With the cold weather we have been having, it it not surprising that many of our children are walking around sniffling and coughing non-stop.
However, if you were thinking of asking your doctor for an antibiotic to make them feel better, you might want to reconsider as the Public Health England (PHE) are advising against it, due to an increase in antibiotic-resistance.
Instead they are urging parents, whose children are sick, to give them lots of fluids, make sure they get plenty of rest and have at least one hot meal a day. Paracetamol and ibuprofen can help ease the symptoms of colds and flus, and the PHE are advising people to get advice from their local pharmacist.
In a video appeal, PHE’s chief medical officer Professor Dame Sally Davis urges mums and dads to get their children to wash their hands and preserve “precious drugs”.
“Resistance to antibiotics is putting people’s lives at risk, as well as creating extra pressure on our healthcare system, with drug-resistant strains of common diseases emerging here in the UK,” explained Dame Sally.
“We need to ensure that we only use antibiotics when clinically relevant, so I urge everyone to visit a pharmacist first before going to their GP, and to always complete courses of antibiotics if they are prescribed.”
The Chief Medical Officer and some of the country’s most recognisable doctors have issued a video to raise awareness of antibiotic resistance.
Posted by Public Health England on Friday, 15 January 2016
