Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, Professor Rotimi Akinola, has advised against the abuse of antibiotics, warning that it can cause vagina odour in women.
Prof. Akinola said it could kill the good bacteria that protect against bad organisms and upset the natural balance of the body’s natural aura.
Speaking in an interview with PUNCH HealthWise, Akinola explained that excessive use of antibiotics can lead to antibiotic resistance and an increase in health care expenditures.
He said, “abuse of antibiotics can lead to vagina odour. Abuse of antibiotics can lead to several things actually. When you take too much antibiotics, there is always the risk that you kill the good organisms and other organisms will grow.
“When you abuse antibiotics, there is also the risk of killing the normal organism that produces vitamins, and other organisms they are preventing can come up and make it difficult for you.
“Antibiotics abuse help to build resistance strains and when that happens, when you use the medication later, they will not function or work and this poses a risk to public health.”
According to the Institute of Global Health Sciences, the abuse of antibiotics has consequences at the individual, community, and environmental levels.
“A person, who takes an antibiotic, even when prescribed, may develop allergic reactions. In addition, the antibiotic not only acts at the source of infection but throughout the body. We have infinitely more bacteria in the intestine than the total cells in the human body.
“The bacterial flora (microbiome) that normally resides in the intestine is essential for health. Antibiotics kill normal flora in sites such as the intestine and vagina and frequently cause opportunistic infections,” it said.
In a post by Healthshots, an online health portal, an overdose of antibiotics can cause yeast infections in the vagina.
It added that these infections are also called fungal infections or vaginal candidiasis and that antibiotics also cause bacterial vaginosis.
A Senior Gynaecologist and Obstetrician at CK Birla Hospital, Gurugram, Dr. Aruna Kalra, told Healthshots that antibiotics can have various side effects like allergic reactions and diarrhoea.
“It can affect your gut by changing the amount and type of bacteria present in it. These changes in the gut lead to nausea, vomiting, and other gastrointestinal side effects. They can also weaken the immune system.
“When it comes to your vagina, antibiotics can kill good as well as bad bacteria. This makes you more vulnerable to infections.
“Antibiotics allow the bad bacteria to overgrow in the gut and they may travel to the vagina, causing infections. Antibiotics also affect the vaginal pH balance.”
According to Medical News Today, antibiotics are drugs that kill harmful bacteria but they sometimes kill the good bacteria that protect people from fungal infections and upset the natural balance of the body’s natural flora.
“As a result of this imbalance, taking antibiotics may lead to a fungal (candida) infection of the mouth, digestive tract, or vagina,” the site said. CONTINUE READING…