An adage says: "If education is costly, try ignorance". Ignorance is bad but misconception is worse especially when been adamant with the error. As someone who is into professional healthcare service in Nigeria as a Pharmacist belonging to related professional bodies and associations with practice area in Community Pharmacy, i have seen a whole lot of misconceptions about the use of antibiotics and also in the fight against malaria. These misconceptions is not limited to Nigeria alone, but in some other parts of Africa and in developing countries.
The first misconception i encountered very often is the use of antibiotics to fight malaria. Often times, patients will come to the pharmacy to buy antibiotics rather than buying anti-malaria drug but on engagement with such patients i do find out that it is purely self medication and no need for antibiotics rather, antimalarial is the needed drug. It is good to know that antibiotics is quite different from antimalarials. Antimalarials are used to treat confirmed or diagnosed malaria cases caused by mosquito bites as it is endemic in Africa while antibiotics are used to treat confirmed/diagnosed microbial infections or diseases as the case may be.
Many people comes down with malaria because of it endemic nature in Africa and because of not maximizing preventive measures like the use of insecticide treated nets (ITN), having good drainage system, not allowing stagnant water or bushes around the house etc. But because of the misconception will ask for antibiotics rather than an anti-malaria. Based on antibiotic stewardship aimed at preventing abuse or misuse of antibiotics and also because antibiotics are prescription based drugs, i tried to engage and enlighten the patients and even refer some for medical tests to confirm their health status or validate if they truly needs the antibiotics, some listened while some are adamant.
The second related misconception is that of the treatment of undiagnosed typhoid and malaria based on some few similar symptoms. Both diseases comes with few similar symptoms like fever, headache but each has its own characteristic and distinguishing sign and symptoms which are confirmatory by a medical laboratory test. I often encounter patients with unconfirmed typhoid diagnosis claiming they always have both malaria and typhoid at the same time. It's a common misconception because both disease are quite different as typhoid is caused by Salmonella typhi which is confirmed by a widal test while malaria as earlier said is caused by mosquito bite and is confirmed by malaria parasite test.
In such a case, i refer the patient to the medical laboratory for the medical laboratory test to confirm their assertion which in most cases proves to be a misconception based on the test results. Similarly, some patients through misconception goes for a malaria prophylactic drug rather than going for the malaria treatment. Based on my interventions, i do engage the patients so as to see that the right thing is done because i have seen many patients who were adamant initially on these misconceptions coming back to do the right thing of getting the right drug for the malaria treatment.
Therefore, these misconceptions about malaria treatment and misuse of antibiotics is really affecting the fight against malaria in Nigeria and also contributing to antibiotic resistance which is very alarming now. Some patients do get the explanation while some defend their error which is not good enough. The dangers these misconceptions can cause range from delayed success on fight against malaria to antibiotic resistance, economic loss and potential life threatening conditions or even death.
Therefore, i counsel that self medication should be avoided and speaking to the right health professional is needed before taking any drug or undergo any treatment. This is needed because quackery is on the rise and falling victim of such can be disheartening. Knowledge is light, knowledge is power, misconceptions are potential dangers and can be fatal. Let's go for the right information and receive the needed correction for a good wellbeing.
Thanks for reading and comments, contributions and suggestions are highly welcomed.
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THUMBNAIL DESIGNED USING CANVA