Bedrest ‘often a better alternative to antibiotics’

Government health officials are calling for more people to let certain illnesses get better on their own, rather than taking antibiotics.

New advice from Public Health England has indicated that more patients should be told to simply go home and get some bedrest, given that as many as one-fifth of antibiotic prescriptions turn out to be unnecessary.

Although antibiotics can speed up the recovery process for conditions such as coughs or bronchitis, they are only vital in cases of sepsis, pneumonia, bacterial meningitis and other severe infections.

Moreover, their overuse is resulting in the development of new antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains, with 5,000 people dying in England each year as a result of these kinds of infection.

To stop this problem from getting worse, the government is urging more people to combine getting more rest with drinking plenty of fluids and using pain medicines such as paracetamol.

Professor Paul Cosford, medical director at Public Health England, told BBC News: "We don't often need antibiotics for common conditions. The majority of us will get infections from time to time and will recover because of our own immunity."

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