Health

  What are respiratory tract infections?

They are infections caused mainly by virus (90%) that can attack any part of your respiratory system.

Respiratory tract infections probably will happen during your whole life (in childhood they occur 6 to 12 times per year).

The most common infections are cold, flu, tonsillitis, sinusitis, pharyngitis and also otitis.

How is possible to know when there is a respiratory tract infection?

Usually there are sneezing, cough, lachrymation, fever, sickness, sore throat, and pain in the body. The initial symptoms are very similar regardless of the infection location and its cause - viral or bacterial - what can make diagnosis difficult.

Most times, diagnosis can be done by a doctor that will consider symptoms and signs the patient shows.

Sometimes, some tests may be necessary, but many of them will not present immediate results or they will not be instantly available.

These difficulties can lead to the use of antibiotics.

What are the main risks involved when using antibiotics?

Antibiotics are a great conquest of science and they allow treatment of infections that can put your health at great risk. However, we can observe that actually there is a tendency towards the excessive and precipitate use of antibiotics, many times due to the patient and his/her family insecurity when treating an infection.

So far we saw that many times respiratory tract infections are caused by virus. In this situation, the use of antibiotics is not helpful, since they can have several harmful consequences, such as:

  What to do when observing the first symptoms of respiratory tract infections?

It is important to see a doctor that will be able to evaluate the patient’s general condition and recommend the best action to be adopted.

Rest, drink the necessary amount of liquids, and eat healthy food; these are adequate and useful steps.

It is necessary be very careful when using antibiotics, not only to avoid unnecessary risks to your health, but also to protect the medicament effectiveness when its use is necessary.

What is new in the respiratory tract infection treatments?

Until sometime ago, the treatment of the most acute respiratory tract infections consisted of several general steps that include resting and hydration, besides using medicines such as descongestants, analgesics, and anti-thermics that alleviate symptoms but didn’t reduce the disease duration.

Sometimes respiratory tract infections are caused mainly by bacteria and, in such cases, the use of antibiotics is necessary.

However, in many cases, respiratory tract infections are caused by virus and antibiotics are not indicated to treat them. Symptomatical medicines don’t cure also any infection, although they help to reduce your physical indisposition.

Pelargonium sidoides is a phytotherapic medicine and it is a new option for treating infections.

  What is Pelargonium sidoides?

Pelargonium sidoides is a medicinal plant extracted from an African plant root, used by South African natives since the 17th century and that 100 years ago was brought to Europe.

The evidence that some medicinal plants have an extraordinary application when treating respiratory tract infections was proved through several scientific studies in patients of all ages.

Perlargonium sidoides reduce disease duration preventing possible infection complications, when the patient symptoms are treated in the beginning.

Therefore, talk to your doctor when the first respiratory tract infection symptoms start to appear. There is a new phytotherapic option that allows an effective treatment and reduces risks due to the inadequate use of antibiotics.