WILL ANTIBIOTICS DO THE TRICK?
As I said last time, if you do begin to develop symptoms of cold or flu, PAUSE PLEASE before reaching for the antibiotics.
Most colds and flu are VIRAL and not bacterial (those are bacteria in the image above) so antibiotics DO NOT REALLY WORK for these types of infections. They will clean out your ‘bad’ and GOOD bacteria (but they won’t kill viruses) and they will likely weaken or derail your immune system.
Antibiotics are simply useless against viral infections (the common cold) and fungal infections (ringworm). If your sore throat is more than just red and shows signs of white spots or clumps, you may have strep, which IS bacterial and WILL resolve with an antibiotic. A cold that lingers can change into something bigger like a sinus infection where bacteria may join into the mix and antibiotic treatment will resolve some of what is making you ill. The same cold could develop into viral pneumonia or into bacterial pneumonia. Antibiotic treatment for bacterial pneumonia is life-saving but doesn’t save you from the viral kind.
Most of the time, long-standing symptoms are STILL due to a virus and NOT bacteria, so even time is not the best way to determine your need for antibiotics. Nor is checking symptoms, like nasal drip. Nasal secretions that are thin and clear tend to be viral while green or yellow mucus can be a sign of bacteria. But then a lot of greenish discharges are in fact viral. So mucus color is an unreliable indicator for needing an antibiotic.
PAUSE is the important action to take so you can consider your best course of action.