What is antibiotic resistance?

There is no doubt that the failing is going to receive heightened attention in the coming months and years as the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Monday that resistance to antibiotics has reached unsafe levels globally and if left unchecked, “will mean the end of modern medicine as we know it”.

Prudent antibiotic use is one of the key messages being promoted in this latest campaign, with the overuse of antibiotics described as a very serious problem and a serious threat to global public health.

Additionally, 32 percent think once they feel better, that they could stop antibiotic consumption – the complete course of treatment should be finished, added the WHO.

Two thirds (66 per cent) of respondents believed that individuals were not at risk of a drug-resistant infection if they took their antibiotics as prescribed.

Dr. Ramanan Laxminarayan, director of the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy in Washington, DC, told Mirror, “There is an immediate need for up-to-date information to establish how antibiotic prophylaxis recommendations should be modified in the face of increasing resistance”.

“It is up to all of us – patients, health professionals, and the agricultural sector – to use these medicines judiciously to reverse the emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance”.

Sharing the findings of a multi-country survey, WHO said that misunderstanding about antibiotic resistance poses a threat to public health while many also do not understand how to prevent it from growing. Oftentimes, the doctor will prescribe antibiotics, but is that really the best solution? Levels of antibiotic resistance are dangerously high worldwide.

Antibiotics are used in medicine to help fight and stave off illness and bacterial infections in humans, as well as in the animal kingdom. And when taking antibiotics, the organization further advises that people should always take the full prescription, never using left-over antibiotics and never sharing antibiotics with others.

According to the CDC, 23,000 people die each year as a direct result of antibiotic resistant infections.

And scarcely half of those surveyed consider drug insurgency is usually a problem in people who take antibiotics often.

Get Smart About Antibiotics Week is an annual effort to raise awareness of antibiotic resistance and the importance of appropriate antibiotic prescribing and use. We’ve had to create new antibiotics to kill MRSA and then it becomes more expensive.

“Patients, health care providers, and hospital administrators must work together to use effective strategies for improving antibiotic use which ultimately improves medical care and saves lives”.

The Bundaberg Hospital pharmacy team and their colleagues across the Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service are also promoting Antibiotic Awareness Week to their patients and fellow WBHHS staff.