Antibiotics on the hit list
February 1, 2012
TODAY NPS has launched a fiveyear
campaign to address the issue
of antibiotic resistance, saying that
in the absence of urgent corrective
action the world is heading towards
a post antibiotic period in which
common infections may not have a
cure and once again kill.
“People have forgotten just how
much of a miracle these drugs were
when they were first invented,”
said NPS Clinical Advisor, Dr
Danielle Stowasser.
“This is about trying to get people
to understand that if you don’t
protect what you have now, you’ll
have nothing in the next 20 or so
years,” she said, adding that there
was clear evidence that antibiotic
consumption is related to antibiotic
resistance, and that Australia has
higher than average antibiotic use
rates.
As such, the NPS campaign is
aimed at educating the public and
healthcare professionals about what
antibiotic resistance is, what is
causing it and how to stop its spread.
“People think that they are
resistant, they think it’s my body
that is resistant, they do not
understand that it is the bacteria
that has resistance to the
antibiotic,” Stowasser said.
Two major contributing factors
giving rise to the rapid increase of
antibiotic resistance, according to
NPS research, include their overuse
and misuse.
Instances of misuse and overuse
may include the use of broad
spectrum antibiotics when a more
narrow one is appropriate,
prescribing an antibiotic when one
is not needed and not prescribing
or not taking the correct dosage.
“Pharmacy label will always say
take the course until finished,”
Stowasser said.
“Until finished then, often is used
because there hasn’t been anything
else specified, so it’s determined by
pack size, however we know a
range of infections may only need
three or five days of therapy.
“Part of our education campaign
for health practitioners is to say:
what is the intended duration of
therapy that you want? Don’t just
assume that a pack size is the default
duration of therapy,” she said.
Tackling public perceptions and
expectations will also play a part in
the campaign, aiming to get
consumers to understand what
antibiotics actually treat, and
changing the expectation that if
you go to the doctor you will get an
antibiotic.
“Patients need to be informed
that they are twice as likely to carry
resistant bacteria after a course of
antibiotics as someone who has not
taken them,” said Stowasser.
Meanwhile the increasing rapidity
of antibiotic resistance worldwide
is particularly concerning,
considering the fact that, according
to Stowasser, around 50% of
pharmaceutical companies ended
or decreased funding for antibiotics
research about 20 years ago, and
the pipeline for new antibiotics is
drying up (only one new antibiotic
is due for release into clinical
practice this year).
“We think that we have this never
ending supply of medicines that
will be able to treat bacteria and
that’s actually not the case,” said
Stowasser.
Worryingly, Stowasser also pointed
to statistics which showed that the
antibiotics that have been released
in the last ten to 20 years have very
short time intervals between their
release date and the first reported
case of bacterial resistance.
Addressing resistance on the
health professional front, the NPS is
releasing a series of educational
resources to help facilitate
communication between patients
and health professionals, to give
the latter the tools and the skills to
converse easily about whether
patients need an antibiotic, that the
antibiotic may be doing the
patients or others harm in terms of
resistance, or, when appropriate, to
explain that having an antibiotic is
not going to reduce symptoms.
The resources will also include
the most current information on
resistance, as well as webinars
focusing on the use of diagnostic
tests in upper respiratory tract
infections and case studies.
For more information visit
www.nps.org.au.
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