Antibiotics

We want to give you some important information about antibiotics.

Antibiotics, like penicillin, fight infections due to bacteria that can cause some serious illnesses. But these medicines can cause side effects like skin rashes, diarrhea, or yeast infections. If your symptoms are from a virus and not from bacteria, you won’t get better with an antibiotic, and you could still get these bad side effects.

Antibiotics also make bacteria more resistant to them. This can make future infections harder to treat. This means that antibiotics might not work when you really need them. Because of this, it is important that you only use an antibiotic when it is necessary to treat your illness.

How can you help?

Carefully follow your provider’s instructions. They will tell you if you should or should not take antibiotics.
When you have a cough, sore throat, or other illness, your provider will help you select the best possible treatments. If an antibiotic would do more harm than good, your provider will explain this to you, and may offer other treatments that are better for you.

Your health is very important to us. As your providers, we promise to treat your illness in the best way possible. We are also dedicated to avoid prescribing antibiotics when they are likely to do more harm than good.

All Fenway Health locations and programs will be closing at 5 PM on 11/27 for Thanksgiving. We will reopen for Saturday services on 11/30 and return to normal operations on 12/2.

Antibiotics

We want to give you some important information about antibiotics.

How can you help?

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask your provider, nurse, or pharmacist.

To find out more about these free services, or to connect with a Health Navigator, please call:

617.267.0159