Study About a quarter of all prescriptions of antibiotics are unnecessary

Rate of unnecessary prescriptions of antibiotics is worrying

Physicians now found that only about eight percent of prescriptions for antibiotics in 2016 were clearly justified. Such unnecessary prescriptions increase the risk of bacteria building up resistance to antibiotics, leading to a worldwide health threat.

The researchers at the University of Michigan found in their current study that antibiotics are prescribed far too often, although the sufferers' illnesses do not require such a prescription. The experts published the results of their study in the English-language journal "British Medical Journal" (BMJ).

Only eight percent of the prescriptions were justified

According to a new study by privately insured Americans, only just under eight percent of antibiotic prescriptions in 2016 were clearly justified. The rest of the prescriptions were dubious: 23.2 percent were unnecessary, 36.5 percent might be necessary and 28.5 percent were made without a documented diagnosis, the researchers say. In fact, according to the latest data in 2016, every sixth adult and every tenth child received an unnecessary prescription at least once, the doctors explain.

When should antibiotics be prescribed and when not??

Antibiotics kill bacteria or prevent them from multiplying. For example, bacteria can cause skin infections, urinary tract infections, bladder infections, kidney infections, sinus and ear infections, bacterial pneumonia, whooping cough, and meningitis. Antibiotics can not kill viruses. This means you should not use antibiotics for flu, cold or cold and cough, against viral laryngitis and virus-induced bronchitis.

Antibiotic treatments should be done until the end

Even if you feel better, there may still be some bacteria in your body that replicate and adapt to the antibiotics. If you stop taking antibiotics too soon, this can complicate your further treatment. Antibiotic resistance is one of the greatest threats to public health in the world, and the large number of antibiotics prescribed by medical professionals is a major cause of this resistance. World leaders have warned against over-prescribing antibiotics for years.

More and more people will die from resistant pathogens

The more antibiotics are present in the human body, the better pathogens become familiar with the drug. Each time the bacteria are confronted with antibiotics, they adapt more to the drug. The CDC estimates, for example, that two million Americans are affected by antibiotic-resistant infections every year, of which approximately 23,000 die. If the over-prescription of antibiotics continues, more people will suffer from antibiotic-resistant infections and more people will die, the experts warn.

Why are antibiotics prescribed so often?

The new investigation made it clear that the high rate of prescriptions for which there was no documented diagnosis comprised more than a quarter of the prescriptions. This is extremely worrying, say the authors of the study. Many of the prescriptions may be due to telephone conversations in which a patient of many years described some of the telltale symptoms of a bacterial infection and a doctor wrote out a prescription for antibiotics to nip those infections in the bud. Often it is also the patients who absolutely require antibiotics. (As)