The Ministry of Health removed antibiotics and hormones from the standard treatment of ARVI

The Ministry of HEALTH has approved a new standard of care for adult patients with acute respiratory viral infections (ARVI); antibiotics and synthetic hormones (corticosteroids) have disappeared from the updated version of the document. The order was published on the legal information portal.

In the previous version of the document, adopted more than ten years ago, there were 61 items with the names of drugs, including the antibiotics gentamicin , cefoperazone , levofloxacin and others, in the new version only 33 names remain, among which are mentioned umifenovir, bromhexine, kagocel, chlorhexidine, and the analgesic paracetamol , tilorone and riamilovir.

Any antibiotics are useless for treating viruses; they are used to fight bacterial diseases only as prescribed by a DOCTOR. Moreover, inappropriate use of antibiotics can pose great risks. “If you use antibiotics for other purposes, unfortunately, this can lead to other microorganisms living in the oral cavity and intestines, which can potentially cause diseases, becoming resistant to them,” the chief freelance microbiologist of the Ministry of Health told RBC Russian professor Roman Kozlov.

“After this, we can get sick again with the so-called superinfection, when any bacteria will be very difficult for us. Any viral disease in this case can be complicated by a bacterial infection - pneumonia, etc.,” agreed therapist and clinical pharmacologist Andrei Kondrakhin.

“Otherwise, as soon as a runny nose starts, people run to the pharmacy to buy antibiotics. The uncontrolled use of these drugs has led to the emergence of more and more strains of viruses resistant to antibiotics,” said Sergei Leonov, deputy HEAD of the Duma Committee on Health Protection.

About half (49.1%) of Russians who took antibiotics over the past year self-medicated, and three out of four (72.5%) did it incorrectly: or did it not as prescribed by a doctor, trying to be treated for acute respiratory viral infections, influenza, covid-19 19 , cough, sore throat, headache, diarrhea, or interrupted the course ahead of time.

According to the results of a 2019 survey, 13% of Russians admitted to treating colds with antibiotics, while another 17% relied on raspberries and chicken broth, avoiding medications.