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Child specialists have warned parents against giving their babies antibiotics without a prescription by qualified medical personnel.
They noted that the indiscriminate use of antibiotics in babies was not only harmful but eventually made infections difficult to treat as the drug became resistant to infections, leading to higher costs of treatment, long hospital stays, and deaths.
The paediatricians also warned parents against giving their babies antibiotics in an attempt to prevent infections, asserting that such practice was harmful.
In exclusive interviews with PUNCH Healthwise, the child experts and researchers on Antimicrobial Resistance, urged parents to take their babies to certified healthcare practitioners before giving them medications.
The experts spoke in light of World AMR Awareness Week commemorated on November 18 to 24 every year.
The theme for this year is, “Educate. Advocate. Act now.”
According to the World Health Organisation, WAAW is a global campaign that is celebrated annually to improve awareness and understanding of AMR and encourage best practices among the public, health practitioners and policymakers to reduce further emergence and spread of AMR.
Antimicrobial Resistance, AMR, occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites no longer respond to medicines, making infections harder to treat and further increasing the risk of disease spread, severe illness and death.
The WHO notes that antimicrobials are antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals and antiparasitic medicines used to prevent and treat infections in humans and animals.
The United Nations Children’s Fund states that in 2019, out of the 1.27 million deaths directly linked to AMR, 254,000 were children mostly under the age of five, representing a disproportionate share of AMR-related deaths globally.
It adds that this figure was equal to one child dying nearly every two minutes.
The Global Research on Antimicrobial Resistance reports that in 2019, 4.95 million people suffered and died from drug-resistant infections globally.
It also reported that Nigeria had about 64,500 AMR-related deaths and 263,400 AMR-associated deaths.
Providing insight into the issue, a Professor of Paediatrics at the University of Ilorin, Kwara State, Aishatu Gobir, said that antibiotics should only be given to babies after proper investigations and clear indications for their use.
She asserted that the common cold, also known as acute coryza, was a viral infection and babies don’t need antibiotics for its treatment.
“Babies with cold need to be given plenty of fluids and breast milk, and steam inhalation is recommended for nasal blockage. Antibiotics are not necessary,” the don said.
Gobir, who is the pioneer Provost of the College of Medicine, Federal University of Health Sciences, Ila Orangun, Osun State, further stated that the indiscriminate use of antibiotics led to the emergence of drug resistance.
“Indiscriminate use of antibiotics leads to unnecessary drug pressure and the emergence of drug resistance. This is aside from side effects from the antibiotics. From the public health perspective, indiscriminate use of antibiotics results in higher costs of treatment, higher morbidity such as prolonged hospital stays and higher death rates.
“Those who use antibiotics indiscriminately can have drug-resistant infections leading to more deaths and complications,” the paediatrician said.
Continuing, Gobir advised, “Babies shouldn’t be fed antibiotics. Babies need breastfeeding only from birth to six months. After six months, complementary feeds will be added such as pap, moinmoin etc.”
On her part, a Professor of Paediatrics at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, Joy Ebenebe, noted that babies should only be given antibiotics based on the prescription of an appropriate healthcare professional.
She noted such prescriptions should be based on the existence of bacterial infection or suspected clinical bacterial infection.
The don further stated that babies on antibiotics should be given the correct and prescribed dosage and urged parents to refrain from sharing such medications with other babies presenting with similar symptoms.
“Other important measures that need to be taken when antibiotics are prescribed to a baby, include making sure that the antibiotic, for example, if it is prescribed for seven days, is given for seven days and not for two.
“Also, it should not be shared with other siblings. Some people have the habit of sharing antibiotics prescribed to one child in the hospital with other children. This means that so little is taken, fuelling the ground for antimicrobial resistance development,” the paediatrician said.
She further asserted that since most colds and flu were due to viral infections, babies with such conditions should not need antibiotics.
“We do know that a good number of common colds and flu are due to viral infections, meaning that antibiotic use will not be effective. But it will expose the antibiotics to the development of resistance because you are using it indiscriminately,” Ebenebe said.
She asserted that the indiscriminate use of antibiotics posed the risk of developing resistance, making simple bacterial infections severe, leading to the spread of infections and even premature death.
The paediatrician further noted that antibiotic resistance gave room for the multiplication of minor infections the body’s immune system could naturally fight, leading to serious infections.
The don warned parents against the indiscriminate use of antibiotics, advising them to take ill babies to certified healthcare professionals for proper evaluation and treatment.
“Some mothers have the bad habit of giving antibiotics to their babies for prevention against infection. This is a very dangerous practice that breeds antimicrobial resistance.
“So my message to mothers is to stop buying over-the-counter antibiotics. Stop practising self-medication. If your child is sick, take your child to go and see a qualified healthcare practitioner,” Enenebe warned.
Also, a Professor of Medical Microbiology at the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Samuel Taiwo, emphasised that parents who gave their babies antibiotics without a healthcare practitioner’s prescription exposed them to danger.
The researcher on Antimicrobial Resistance and Infection Prevention and Control said, “Remember that the body has a lot of normal organisms, billions of organisms are in the gut. Antibiotics that are not warranted can distort the balance of this normal flora which will affect the child one way or the other.
“Many times these antibiotics when not given properly can cause the bacteria flora in the body to develop resistance and when the child develops infections, such a child will not respond to the antibiotics again. If such a child has something like diarrhoea, such a child can spread that resistant infection to another child.
“So, parents giving antibiotics to their children without medical authorization create harm to the child and when such a child grows up can develop resistance and can spread the resistance to other children in the society and the parents themselves.”
Speaking on WAAW, Taiwo urged parents to only give antibiotics to children when and as prescribed by a doctor.
“Also, try as much as possible to maintain proper hygiene and hand washing habits. When this is done, you are taking away microorganisms that might be in your hand because the organisms are usually much in the hands. So, regular hygiene and hand washing would minimise the rate at which infection occurs. If there is no infection, there won’t be a need for the use of antibiotics.
“We also tell parents to follow the instructions that are given by the doctor. If the prescription is for five days, give the antibiotic for five days. If you are to give it three times a day, give it three times a day. When you give an underdose, the chance of resistance is also very high,” the don said.
The AMR advocate further warned parents against keeping leftover antibiotics and giving them to another child who develops symptoms similar to their child’s.
