Why it's time to start worrying about antibiotic overuse
Health experts are set to convene at a global conference in Berlin this week, with one topic set to be the major talking point: antibiotics and drug-resistant infections.
The world is becoming over-dependant on antibiotics, and the increasing rate of infections resistant to common drugs like penicillin has been described by organisers of the event as “one of the greatest health and economic challenges of our time”.
But how does this affect us in Australia? Well, Australia just so happens to be the world’s eighth-highest consumers of antibiotics. According to not-for-profit organisation NPS MedicineWise, more than 30 million prescriptions for antibiotics were writing in 2014, and nearly half the population was prescribed at least one course of antibiotics.
A federal survey from the Department of Health that same year found 65 per cent of Australian workers believed antibiotics could help them recover from a cold or flu more quickly, and 60 per cent of GPs were prescribing antibiotics to meet patient demands or expectations, rather than as a matter of necessity.
Austin Health director of infections diseases, Professor Lindsay Grayson, has warned that Australians need to take action.
“If we don’t have drugs to kill these increasingly stubborn infections, we will be compelled to surgically remove infected limbs,” he said.
“We need people to understand that if we continue to recklessly misuse and overuse antibiotics as we have for the past 50-70 years, doctors will be faced with the choice to amputate infected limbs or risk their patients’ lives.”
Jonathan Pearce, head of infections and immunity at the UK Medical Research Council, paints an even bleaker picture, telling The Guardian that if infections continue to develop resistances to antibiotics even standard procedures could become deadly.
“Routine surgery, joint replacements, caesarean sections, and chemotherapy also depend on antibiotics, and will also be at risk,” he told The Guardian.
“Common infections could kill again.”
The Government isn’t standing still however, encouraging doctors to cut prescriptions by 25 per cent and use a 48 hour “wait and see” approach to see if they body’s natural immune system can fight the infection. They’re also conducting a number of public education campaigns, so the public are aware that antibiotics cannot cure everything.
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