With the flu epidemic, many patients seek a second opinion from pulmonologists when their symptoms do not improve following treatment recommended by general practitioners or the emergency department, even though they have been correctly diagnosed with the flu.
In some cases, general practitioners or emergency departments have performed a chest X-ray on the patient to rule out a case of lung infection or pneumonia, but the result is normal. However, in many cases, although the chest X-ray is normal, antibiotics are prescribed with a diagnosis of influenza.
Preventive antibiotic treatment
Some physicians mistakenly believe that antibiotics can prevent the flu from being complicated by bacterial pneumonia. However, the “preventive” antibiotic, as was done in the past, and also incorrectly, by ordering it before surgical interventions, does not prevent the bacterial lung infection that can occur as a complication of influenza.
There is no antibiotic that is effective in treating the influenza virus, which is the virus that causes the flu. When there is a case of influenza, the chest X-ray may show pulmonary opacities caused by the virus itself. In these cases, when it is difficult to know for sure whether they are caused by the influenza virus or by bacteria, antibiotic treatment is justified.
In any case, it is unusual for the influenza virus to cause severe infection in both lungs, leading to severe respiratory failure, which can even be fatal in the absence of effective antibiotic treatment.
Is antibiotic treatment for the flu effective?
Patients sometimes report that their health has improved after being diagnosed with the flu and treated with an antibiotic.
However, it is difficult to determine whether the improvement is caused by the antibiotic treatment or by the passage of time, because uncomfortable flu symptoms improve on their own and over time, as long as they are not complicated by pneumonia. However, many patients claim that their health condition has improved thanks to the antibiotic.
This is not only true for flu cases, but also for acute bronchitis, which is also caused by a virus.
In either case, the patient attributes the spontaneous improvement that occurs when treatment is recommended to them to the medication. However, in acute bronchitis, as in influenza, there is no effective antibiotic treatment.