Well that depends. Are they antibiotics? If they are then the answer is ...maybe. According to an article in the London Daily Mail, taking antibiotics may not be as necessary of a precaution as we may have initially thought.
This article tackles some of the preconceived notions about what taking antibiotics actually does. Antibiotics are helpful in treating bacterial infections such as E.Coli, staph infections, salmonella, etc. Antibiotics are not effective in treating any viral infections. So taking antibiotics when you have the flu? Completely futile.
One of the main problems that appears to be arising is that people are taking antibiotics "just in case" as a preemptive approach to treat bacterial infections before they become a problem. The issue here is that bacteria have the tendency to become resistant. That is, they become used to the antibiotic that is supposed to be treating them and therefore become impervious to their healing powers so to speak. Do people know the difference between bacterial infections vs viral infections?
Newspaper title: Daily Mail (London)
Article title: When do you really need antibiotics?
January 20, 2009
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