Your doctor is the right person to start appropriate treatment. In some cases, a blood sample or a throat smear needs to be examined first. Antibiotics have no effect on viral infections and barely have an effect on common bacterial infections. Those infections heal spontaneously but the symptoms can be treated in order to make the patient feel better.
Severe bacterial infections, however, do need to be treated with antibiotics.
| Disease | Medication | Recommendations |
|---|---|---|
| Influenza | Painkillers, antipyretics | Rest Prophylactic vaccination |
| Sinusitis | Painkillers, antipyretics | Hot steam inhalation |
| Diarrhoea | In some cases anti-diarrhoeal drugs |
Drink enough, good hygiene |
| Common cold | Painkillers | Avoid smoking |
| Acute bronchitis | Painkillers | Avoid smoking |
| Laryngitis | Painkillers | Avoid smoking |
| Otitis | Painkillers, antipyretics | Rest |
| Pneumonia | Antibiotics | Severe illness, to be monitored closely by a physician, in some cases hospitalisation |
| Bacterial meningitis | Antibiotics | Severe illness, to be monitored closely by a physician, hospitalisation |