Don't take antibiotics for viral fever!

This is an automatically translated article.

The article was professionally consulted by Master, Doctor Nguyen Thi Nhat - Infectious Disease Specialist - Department of Medical Examination & Internal Medicine - Vinmec Hai Phong International General Hospital
Viral fever can be caused by many viruses, the most common is a respiratory virus that occurs a lot in the summer or rainy season. When having a viral fever, many people arbitrarily use antibiotics with the mistaken belief that the disease will heal faster.

1. Symptoms of viral fever

When the virus enters the body, after an incubation period, it will cause external manifestations. The disease can occur at any age, most of which are not dangerous and resolve on their own, but some can become superinfected if not treated properly.
Manifestations of viral fever are diverse, depending on the cause, but usually:
The patient has a high fever from 38oC - 39oC, even 40oC - 41oC, continuous fever. Taking fever-reducing medicine can only help for a few hours, then the fever will continue to rise. In many cases, the usual antipyretic drugs also do not work. Headache: Most pronounced in adults. Children can also have headaches, younger children are often fussy. During and after fever, the patient will cough, sneeze, runny nose, the symptoms will get worse, the throat may be red and swollen... The patient has digestive disorders (diarrhea, no blood, mucus). There may be eye conjunctivitis (accompanied by fever, vomiting, patients with viral fever may also have symptoms of eye conjunctivitis, red, watery eyes, fatigue, lethargy ..), rash. .. Body aches and fatigue may be out of proportion to the fever, accompanied by swollen lymph glands.

2. Treatment of viral fever

Viral fever can go away on its own after 1-2 weeks. But the disease often presents with fever, so it needs treatment, especially in children. It is necessary to combine both medication and care for the patient to recover quickly.
Treatment of viral fever is mainly symptomatic treatment, because most viral diseases have no specific treatment.

What medicine do you take for viral fever? The first thing to pay attention to when you have a fever is to drink lots of water, to replace the lost water and electrolytes. In nursing children, the child must be fully breastfed, in addition, it can be supplemented through fruit juices and broths while eating. The most popular product for rehydration and electrolyte replacement is still Oresol. Care should be taken to mix oresol in the correct ratio as directed, not too dilute, not too thick.
When the patient has a fever greater than 38.5 degrees Celsius, antipyretic drugs should be used. The most commonly used is Paracetamol with a dose of 10 - 15 mg/kg body weight, once every 6 hours, which will have the effect of preventing hyperthermia. Absolutely do not use antipyretic continuously, do not use more than 4000 mg Paracetamol in a day (equivalent to about 8 Paracetamol 500 mg tablets). It is possible to combine the paste of antipyretic patches.
Anti-convulsant: when a child has a high fever, it is very likely to have a convulsion, this is a dangerous condition, which can leave sequelae later. Therefore, when the child has a high fever of over 38.5 degrees Celsius, the doctor may prescribe anticonvulsant drugs for the child, especially for children who have had a seizure with high fever before.
Patients can be given some cough suppressant, runny nose, anti-allergic medicine if the above symptoms are many, but must follow the doctor's instructions.
Absolutely do not arbitrarily give infusion as well as abuse the nebulizer because it can lead to damage to the mucous membranes of the nose and throat.
Implement measures against superinfection: Use 0.9% sodium chloride for eye drops, nose drops for children, to prevent respiratory bacterial superinfection.
Also need to pay extra attention: if the patient has a fever for many days (more than 5 days), or the fever is high above 39 degrees Celsius, the use of antipyretic drugs does not reduce or there is convulsions, continuous headache and nausea, It is necessary to quickly take the patient to the nearest clinic and hospital to have the right treatment measures, to avoid possible complications.

3. Do not use antibiotics to treat viral fever

When having a viral fever with symptoms such as cough and fever, many people buy antibiotics to treat the disease on their own. Especially when families have young children with high viral fever, the psychology is even more impatient. However, this is really a harmful action, because using antibiotics does not shorten the duration of illness, antibiotics only work to kill bacteria, not viruses, which can actually be harmful. lead to a very high risk of antibiotic resistance. In fact, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), Vietnam is currently on the list of countries with the highest antibiotic resistance in the world.
Therefore, if the child is diagnosed with a viral fever, no antibiotics are needed to treat it. In viral fever, antibiotics are used only in cases of bacterial superinfection, which is mainly in the respiratory tract such as ENT. However, the use of the drug must comply with the prescription and instructions of the doctor. Absolutely do not use antibiotics to treat viral fever without a doctor's prescription.

4. Caring for a patient with a viral fever

You should wear clothes that are airy enough, do not let drafts, do not let the room temperature be too lower than body temperature, and regularly wipe your body with warm water (usually the temperature of the water is about 3-4 degrees lower than the child's temperature). C) pay attention not to use ice to apply at home
Cleanliness: this time the resistance is very poor, the body is tired, so it is easy to get more diseases, so hygiene is extremely necessary, helping people The disease avoids superinfection caused by infection with other viruses. Can take a bath with warm water, dry the body after bathing and change into clean clothes, wearing loose and airy clothes will help the patient more comfortable.

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