Experts have advised the whole nation to avoid self-medication for coronavirus as cases of typhoid have also been raised and this is highly risky.
The spike in typhoid has raised concerns among health professionals as people are consuming different foods, drinks as remedies, and medicating by self-experiments to treat coronavirus. Experts call it risky and that death toll may see a surge if self-medication goes on because typhoid in these virus-spread-days will further emburden the healthcare system of the country.
According to Dr. Abdul Ghafoor Shoro, a senior family physician at the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) “While Covid-19 remains our major concern, we are also getting patients of dengue and extensively drug resistant XDR typhoid. At times, patients report with multiple health issues, making diagnosis and treatment challenging as symptoms of dengue, Covid-19 and XDR typhoid are largely similar”.
He also said that it is essential for the physicians to do the correct diagnosis and look for the possibility of other diseases before focusing on coronavirus. Then he said that people fear to visit laboratories on doctor’s advice and avoid going hospitals and so the misinformation on social media leads them to self-medicating.
“There is an antibiotic drug called azithromycin, the only oral medicine we have so far to treat XDR typhoid. Now, this medicine is also being given to secondary Covid-19 patients (who develop pneumonia). We fear that Covid-19 patients with mild illness may use it without prescription and develop resistance against this medicine. Doctors should also exercise caution as any misuse of this medicine may lead to drug resistance”.
It is also assumed that in the coronavirus spike, substandard forms of medicines have also been supplied and available in the market and their use could be drastic.
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