Do children need antibiotics for fever?

Contrary to those who take antibiotics as soon as they catch a cold, there are indeed many people who think that children should not use antibiotics when they have a fever, and do not need injections or infusions. They should observe at home and wait for the child's own immune system to "resist".

Under the background of lack of scientific understanding, our attitudes towards many things tend to go to two extremes, either deified or demonized, such as infusions, antibiotics, X-rays, and doctors, hospitals...
Some parents hear that infusion and antibiotics are risky and have complications, so they refuse infusion or antibiotics, even if there is a serious bacterial infection; some parents hear that X-rays have radiation, but they refuse to be examined, even if they suspect that the child has a fracture; some When the parents heard that the operation had an accident, they refused the operation, even if it was a disease that could not be cured without the operation... These are all misunderstandings caused by not having a correct understanding of things.

Antibiotics are risky, but before the invention of antibiotics, an infection that seems common today could kill everyone; before there was no infusion technology, many patients would even miss the opportunity to rescue; before there was no X-ray examination Many diseases will delay treatment because they cannot "guess" a clear diagnosis.

Although a large part of children’s fever is caused by viral infections, such as ordinary respiratory viral infections, current drugs can hardly affect the length of the disease and can only be treated symptomatically, but there are also serious types of viral infections. Let alone the more dangerous viral infections, such as Japanese encephalitis virus, some common viral infections can also cause severe symptoms, such as hand, foot and mouth disease and rotavirus enteritis. Although most of them can heal by themselves, the annual In the epidemic season, there will be some severe cases with multiple organ damages throughout the body, and even life-threatening. These serious situations sometimes require targeted medication.

Some respiratory virus infections will also be combined with bacterial infections, lower respiratory tract infections and even pneumonia, and may simply manifest as fever in the early stage. Many parents know that when the child has a fever, it is necessary to pay attention to observe whether the child has other symptoms, such as mental state, but this judgment still requires certain experience and professional knowledge. Many children with fever are drowsy. How to distinguish whether it is a decrease in mobility caused by an increase in body temperature or that it has neurological symptoms. Experienced doctors sometimes make judgments wrong, not to mention parents.

Maybe many people know the principles of using antibiotics, you can take them orally as much as possible instead of using them as much as possible. But when to use it, when not to use it, and in which way to use it, such a decision requires professional judgment. That is to say, only a doctor can decide whether to use an antibiotic or how to use it.

In most cases of children with fever, antibiotics are not needed, so many parents have the experience of their children getting better without medication. Such experiences can be seen everywhere on the Internet. But the experience of doctors is exactly the opposite of that of parents, because doctors deal with a large number of cases every day, and every doctor has encountered some serious infections that require antibiotics. A doctor’s job is often to find a few cases that require medication from a large number of cases that do not require medication. Because such cases are more risky, doctors are particularly vigilant towards such cases.

Although antibiotics have side effects, if used correctly, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. When the condition requires it, neither the doctor nor the parent should hesitate. If it is not used, it may delay the condition, and it is the child who suffers in the end. The specific conditions to be used are determined by the doctor, not by the parents themselves based on intuition, feelings, or so-called "experience", let alone a few words from an elderly person or a neighbor.

Everyone knows the term "choking", but it is difficult for people who are really "choked" to treat it correctly. Different experiences will lead to different perspectives. On medical issues, doctors must have a higher level of knowledge than patients, and the decisions they make are based on evidence, and the accuracy rate will be much higher than the patients’ own judgments. This is why I emphasize that we must trust doctors as much as possible.

Maybe many people will say, I want to trust the doctor, but every time I go to the hospital, the doctor just prescribes antibiotics? Worrying that doctors use drugs indiscriminately is one reason why many parents choose not to go to the hospital.

Antibiotics are prescription drugs, and doctors should decide whether to use them or not. However, it is an indisputable fact that some doctors prescribe antibiotics indiscriminately. Even in the United States, tens of millions of non-therapeutic antibiotic prescriptions are prescribed for the treatment of respiratory diseases each year, and the situation in China is even less optimistic.
The benefit and risk analysis of a drug in any medical clinical guideline is from the perspective of the patient. But in reality, doctors will inevitably be affected by other factors when making medical choices. There are many reasons for abuse, both objective and subjective. Sometimes the condition is complicated, and it is difficult to judge whether it is a bacterial or viral infection; sometimes it may also be related to the doctor's insufficient understanding of the disease and medicine.

In an environment where the doctor-patient relationship is strained, when medical decisions may affect your personal safety, in order to avoid missed diagnosis, misdiagnosis and delays in your condition, and worry that parents may trouble yourself, doctors may be more willing to choose more active treatment , Treat suspicious bacterial infections as bacterial infections, so you can feel at ease. These are the realities that we cannot change in the short term. What we can do is to find more trustworthy hospitals and doctors.