Why a microbiologist says chicken soup may be better for your virus than antibiotics

If you or your child has an earache or sore throat, a medical microbiologist on P.E.I. is recommending you think twice before using antibiotics.

Dr. Greg Germanis hoping to raise awareness among the medical community, care providers and the public about the best way to use antibiotics without contributing to the problem of antibiotic resistant bacteria, or superbugs.

"We just don't spend enough time talking about the problems of taking those antibiotics and how it leads to troubles with their digestion or how it leadsto drug resistance and how that drug resistance can go from your child to you, to your loved ones just because that's how those germs work."

German said he understands parents want something to treat their children's illness and can feel powerless if they don't have a prescription.

He said physicians are "absolutely" over-prescribing antibiotics. He saida "virus plan" is a step in the right direction.

"The virus plan is a prescription that a physician would end up filling out and say, 'You know what, your son or daughter has a cold or a sore throat or an earache but doesn't have the telltale symptoms or signs or features of it actually being an infection and we should treat this conservatively without antibiotics and see how things develop,'" he said.

We on the Island have to be on guard and use our antibiotics appropriately and if we don't we'll open the door to thosesuperbugsand become a greater challenge. Dr. Greg German

"Go ahead and give Advil orTylenol, go ahead and give fluid, chicken soup,others things to try to see how things go and then give a plan on what to do if things get worse."

Right strength for right condition

If an antibiotic is necessary, German said it's important to use them at the right strength for the right condition. Being careful about how and when antibiotics are prescribed makes it more likely that the antibiotics will be effective when they are needed, he said.

"We on the Island have to be on guard and use our antibiotics appropriately and if we don't we'll open the door to those superbugs and become a greater challenge," he said.

"So even simple infections, ones that are typically treated with antibiotics for a urine infection, will be untreatable and it will be like we're going back 60 or 70 years."

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With files from CBC News: Compass and Island Morning