ICMR recommends avoiding antibiotics for low-grade fever, issues guidelines

ICMR found in a survey that a large number of patients were no longer benefitting from the use of certain antibiotics as they have developed anti-microbial resistance to them

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Sunday issued guidelines opposing the use of antibiotics for ailments like viral bronchitis and low-grade fever. 
 

ICMR has advised physicians to prescribe the antibiotics within a specific timeframe. It stated in its guidelines that antibiotics should be given for five days for skin and soft tissue infections, five days for pneumonia acquired in the community, and eight days for pneumonia received in a hospital.
 

The guidelines further stated, “A clinical diagnosis most often helps us predict causative pathogens fitting into a clinical syndrome which would tailor the correct antibiotic rather than blindly