As cold and flu season approaches, people are getting ready for cooler conditions in the months ahead.
As cold and flu season approaches, people are getting ready for cooler conditions in the months ahead.
A Kildare-based doctor has advised that antibiotics shouldn't always be the first option used.
Speaking on Kildare Today, medical director with Kildare and west Wicklow doctors on duty, GP and assistant adjuvant professor Dr. Brendan O' Shea says that antibiotics aren't always needed:
"Antibiotics have little role to play in most cases here, 19 out of 20 of these children will get better with food, regular Paracetamol and fluids, with a bit of patience and an understanding that there's no real cure for them.
"People sometimes feel that an antibiotic is helpful in this context and it isn't."
Dr. O' Shea also alluded to such illnesses taking 10 to 12 days for symptoms to pass, adding that the first three to five days are generally the most difficult.
"A key indicator that it may be turning into something more serious, is that if they're reasonably well on Calpol and Nurofen, taking at least half the usual amount of fluids over the 24 hours, it's unlikely that they're seriously unwell. It's good to be able observe and watch that."
He advised parents to trust their gut, while also being open to consulting with other experts around them.
"If you're seriously wondering about if there's something wrong, there almost certainly isn't, it's good to put heads together with extended family, your pharmacist will always have a perspective, as well as KDOC in the out of hours setting.
"These are the steps by which we can work through the onslaught of what's going to be happening."
The full interview can be heard below:
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