Is it Necessary to Take Antibiotics for Viral Infections?

Viral influenza is a common disease of people, including common cold, influenza, and viral pharyngitis. It is mainly transmitted through the nasal cavity through air or hand contact. Influenza is an acute respiratory infectious disease caused by the influenza virus. The virus exists in the respiratory tract of a patient and is transmitted by droplets when the patient coughs or sneezes. Because it is highly contagious, the transmission route is not easy to control, the transmission speed is fast, and the transmission range is wide, it is difficult to control, the harm is very large, and even severe cases (severe pneumonia, respiratory failure, etc.) will occur. Common colds are caused by rhinoviruses, coronaviruses, and parainfluenza viruses. Common colds are much less contagious than influenza, and they often appear individually. When the body's resistance decreases, it is easy to get sick.

Basic Information

English name: viral influenza
Visiting department: Internal medicine
Common causes: Influenza A, B, and C viruses

Common symptoms: High fever, chills, headache, muscle aches and weakness
Contagious: Have
way for spreading: Droplet infection

Causes of viral influenza

The common people usually think that "flu" and "cold" are a kind of disease, and "flu" is just a "cold" epidemic. However, "flu" is not a common "cold", "flu" and "cold" are two completely different diseases. "Influenza" is a systemic disease that mainly affects the upper respiratory tract caused by influenza virus infection. The pathogens are divided into influenza A, B, and C viruses; "cold" is mainly caused by respiratory syncytial virus, rhinovirus, adenovirus, and coronavirus. And upper respiratory tract infections caused by parainfluenza virus.

Clinical manifestations of viral influenza

The common cold is a non-infectious disease with seasonality not obvious. Patients generally do not have fever or moderate fever, have no chills, have little or no systemic symptoms, have a course of 1-3 days, and have few complications such as otitis media, pneumonia, and encephalitis. Influenza is a C-type infectious disease with obvious seasonality. Patients often have high fever of 39 ° C to 40 ° C with chills. The course of disease is 3-5 days, and systemic symptoms are obvious, such as headache, muscle aches and weakness in the whole body. There are complications such as otitis media, pneumonia, and encephalitis.

Virus check

Blood image

The white blood cell count is reduced and the lymphocytes are relatively increased. When combined with bacterial infections, the white blood cell count and neutrophils are increased.

2. Detection of antigen by immunofluorescence or immunoenzyme staining

A smear specimen of mucosal epithelial cells in the patient's nasal washes was taken, and the antigen was detected by fluorescent or enzyme-labeled influenza virus immune serum staining. Helps early diagnosis.

3. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) determination of influenza virus ribonucleic acid (RNA)

This method can detect RNA directly from patient secretions. At present, PCR-enzyme-linked direct detection of influenza virus RNA has been improved, which is more sensitive than virus cell culture.

4. Virus isolation

Viral isolation was performed by inoculating the gargle of patients in the acute phase into chicken embryo amniotic sac or allantoic fluid.

5. Serology

Sera were collected from patients in the acute phase (within 5 days after illness) and the recovery period (3 to 4 weeks after illness), and the current hemagglutination inhibition test was performed.

Viral influenza diagnosis

Influenza has obvious characteristics of group outbreaks. In the short term, most people have the disease, or most people in the family have the disease. Sporadic cases may be missed. Influenza is more severe than the common cold. Influenza or other virus influenza, comprehensive clinical and examination is not difficult to diagnose. However, attention should be paid to severe cases during the pandemic, especially influenza A.

Viral influenza treatment

Treatment principle

International and domestic guidelines for antibiotic use clearly state that routine use of antibiotics is not recommended for acute bronchitis and upper respiratory infections.

2. Treatment

Usually the main treatment is symptomatic relief, including antipyretics and painkillers. Generally, patients can recover naturally after 1 week. You can also take resistance-enhancing drugs, such as taking large doses of vitamin C (1000 mg for adults and 500 mg for children) in the early stages of a cold, which can alleviate cold symptoms and shorten the course of the cold. But not all doses of vitamin C can increase resistance, only large doses of vitamin C can do this.

(1) General treatment: pay attention to rest, drink plenty of water, pay attention to nutrition, and diet should be easy to digest; pay attention to ventilation and air disinfection; pay attention to observe complications.

(2) Drug treatment is mainly to reduce symptoms, shorten the course of disease and prevent complications. Those with a cold and fever, headache, muscle soreness, cough, and sore throat can choose antipyretic analgesics, and apply compound anti-cold preparations to relieve various cold symptoms, such as compound aspirin, diclofenac, etc .; For those who are symptomatic, a compound anti-cold preparation containing pseudoephedrine hydrochloride and chlorpheniramine can be used; cough can affect the rest, and antitussives can be taken; those with thick sputum can use sputum drugs such as bisulfin and ambroxol hydrochloride ; Unless combined with bacterial infections, antibiotics are generally not necessary.

(3) Influenza is diagnosed with neuraminidase inhibitors, such as oseltamivir phosphate (Duffy).

Warning: use of antibiotics

Antibiotics are used to fight bacteria and have no effect on the virus, so the abuse of antibiotics does not have a therapeutic effect when it produces toxic side effects. In addition, the abuse of antibiotics can lead to the emergence of a large number of resistant strains. Experts suggest that, in general, antibiotics should not be taken on your own unless you have a yellow pus and runny nose when you have a cold. When you have a severe cold or have other symptoms, you should seek medical advice in a timely manner. When you have a bacterial infection or have complications, , Choose antibiotics under the guidance of a doctor.

Viral influenza prevention

Because there is no specific cure for colds, and once you have a cold, it will affect your work and life to some extent, so prevention is especially important. Strengthening resistance and preventing pathogen invasion is the key to prevention. The main measures are:

(1) Pay attention to exercise and arrange outdoor activities reasonably in order to adapt to changes in environment and climate.

(2) Dress appropriately and increase or decrease in time with climate change to prevent cold or overheating.

(3) Control and treat chronic diseases and correct malnutrition.

(4) Pay attention to indoor ventilation to avoid crowded public places and air pollution.

(5) Avoid inducing factors such as overwork and drunkenness.

(6) Pay attention to personal hygiene and wash your hands frequently.