The Dark Side of Antibiotic

Antibiotic is a medicine compound that can stop infection process of bacteria (not a virus) in our body. Antibiotic becomes effective medicine to heal much kind of diseases at many years. This medicine almost becomes a first step for medic expertise’s to recover their patient from illness. Many doctor give antibiotic prescription without consider the age, the seriousness of illness, and the condition of their patient. If children suffer fever, cough, and influenza, doctor who controls them is possible to give antibiotic prescription, whereas 90 % of those diseases are caused by virus. If antibiotic used in wrong way continuously, antibiotic would become dangerous medicine because it can cause resistance of bacteria, stimulates new disease, and gives side effects that might cause mortality.

First danger that caused by the wrong using of antibiotic is resistance of bacteria. A wrong consumption and an incomplete consumption of antibiotic cause the bacteria that cause illness on body aren’t totally extinct. That thing exactly will stimulate the bacteria to evolve and create gene that more prevent to that antibiotic. Nowadays, lots of bacteria prevent to any kind of antibiotics. A Publication that publish by Medicine Faculty of University of Indonesia claimed that in Indonesia they have found 23 types of Escherichia coli and 33 types of Klebsiella pneumonia that immune toward antibiotic medicine, as a cause of the use of a wrong method in consuming antibiotic medicine. The level of that bacteria’s immune are increase 2-3 times since 1997. That problem makes the kind and the doze of same antibiotic can’t be relying on to kill that kind of bacteria.

Second danger, the use of antibiotic can stimulate a new disease. A publication on Journal Watch Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine 18 July 2007 reported that a “population based” research has done a longitudinal research to 13.116 children in Canada who’s born in 1995 and had a treatment with antibiotic in their first year. This research is done to study the factors of risk that cause asthma on children. Children that diagnosed suffer asthma in their first year are out from the research. The result is 65% of children that had antibiotic treatment suffer asthma. The research shows that the relationship between asthma and the use of antibiotic increasing in children who lives in village, who doesn’t have asthma track record on their ancestor, haven’t history having a pet especially dog in their house, and they had antibiotic for several times. This research confirms the result of previous research that the early use of antibiotic on child (aged less than 1 year old) can increase the risk of strung out asthma on children. So it advised not to give antibiotic to children that aged less than 1 year old if that isn’t needful because it can stimulate other disease.

Third danger is the side effects that might cause mortality. Side effects of using antibiotic aren’t happen in long-term use, in short-term use antibiotic can cause side effects. Malfunction on digestion system (diarrhea, vomiting, and stomachache), allergic reaction, and blood malfunction until malfunction of liver like Steven Johnson syndrome that might cause a death in many cases. Longer use of antibiotic means more easily for us to catch by the side effects from antibiotic.

In conclusion, besides having a great effect to heal some disease, antibiotic can give a great negative effect too. We must consider that antibiotic like a sword with two edges. If we are not aware of its negative edges, we will get many disadvantages. We must try to use antibiotic wisely.