Antibiotics Kill Bacteria…NOT FUNGUS

It gets confusing, so I’ll try to keep this simple.  “Anti” means “against,” and “bio” means “life forms.”  So antibiotics in reality kill living disease causing germs, be they viruses, fungi or bacteria. It’s all semantics. But you and I call pills that kill bacteria “antibiotics,” and pills that kill fungus, “antifungals.” Technically, we are correct.

A new article points out that we humans have become resistant to antibiotics, and credits our overuse of them to our resistance. But how did it work out for you when you asked your doctor to prescribe an antifungal medication since the antibiotics didn’t work? First, the confused look on their face, then their denial.  

I don’t think doctors are overusing antifungal medications. I believe they are underusing them. And even doctors admit that they are overusing bacterial antibiotics! As a matter of fact, for years, they themselves have been calling for “antibiotic stewardship” within their own ranks. So, how did we humans become resistant to antifungals, since we can’t even seem to get them?  

I believe that many infections currently being treated with antibiotics are fungal in nature. Antibiotics tend to fuel yeast/fungal growth. If I am correct in this assertion, with fungal infections being treated with round after round of the wrong drug (antibiotics), fungi begin to change or mutate to the point where a simple antifungal medication that should have been used and would likely have worked quickly, now morphs and resists antifungal medication!  

This is the simple rendition, but it becomes so complex because the wrong drugs become so grossly overprescribed that right drugs can’t do their jobs anymore. I’d always ask my doctor if he/she is 100% certain that the infection is bacterial before I’d start any antibiotic. They are lifesaving drugs when prescribed correctly and possess a rather complex and dark side when erroneously prescribed.

The Truth About Antibiotics