Suggest treatment for cough and cold in a child
Patient: Hi,  My son is 5 years old. He frequently (Once in every month) has cough and cold and every time doctor advise him to take antibiotics like Phenix with other cough and cold serups. Last week we came to know that with cough and cold he has also developed the uring infection and according to the culture report of the urine most of the bacteria found in the urine are resistant to the antibiotics.  Our doctor has advised us to go for another urine culture test before starting the cure for the same. Please advise me what is best for my son in this situation. Doctor: Fever and cough are very common ailments in children. Most often it is caused by certain viruses. Some children are more prone to catching cold but the propensity comes down with age. The treatment of fever and cough is use of plain paracetamol to reduce temperature and use of some antiallergic like cetirizine. Antibiotics are generally not required as they are ineffective against viruses. It should recover on its own in 5-7 days. Steam inhalation should be helpful in diluting the cough.Urinary tract infection (UTI) on the other hand is a primarily bacterial infection. Please note that mere presence of bacteria in urine needs to be greater than 10^5 (100000) per cubic mm for the diagnosis of UTI. If that is not the case but still bacteria are present, a second urine culture is sometimes advised. If the sensitivity report shows resistance to most antibiotics, surely there should be at least a few higher antibiotics like colistin that are still sensitive. If the sensitivity of those have not been checked, a second culture could have been advised. The best treatment for your son would be to administer proper antibiotics as per your doctor's judgement. Please rely on it.