Doctors are to be told to stop prescribing antibiotics for coughs, colds and sore throats because over-use of the drugs is fuelling the spread of killer hospital superbugs.
Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, says it is time to end the unnecessary use of penicillin and other commonly-prescribed pills, which cost the NHS �1.7 billion a year.
Using antibiotics too liberally has led to bugs such as MRSA becoming resistant to treatment with the drugs. Most colds, coughs and flu are caused by viruses, which cannot be treated with antibiotics anyway, Mr Johnson points out.
Announcing a �270 million campaign against superbugs, to be launched next month, he says it is vital that doctors adopt "less of a knee-jerk reaction to prescribing".
The campaign, called Clean, Safe Care, will also include an extra �45 million for hospitals to spend on infection control nurses or antibiotic specialist pharmacists. All patients going into hospital will be screened for MRSA by 2009.
Staff have already been told they must be "bare below the elbows" to help prevent the spread of infection between patients and all hospitals should undergo a "deep clean" by March this year, although experts have dismissed this as a gimmick.
Mr Johnson says: "The past 60 years have seen great advances in health care and medicine. For example, the use of antibiotics has saved countless lives, but antibiotics do not work on most coughs, colds and sore throats and their unnecessary use can leave the body susceptible to gut infections like Clostridium difficile."
Over-use of antibiotics, which can be used only on bacterial infections, has been blamed for the rise of drug-resistant tuberculosis. The drugs can strip natural bacteria from the gut and allow C.diff to take hold and kill vulnerable elderly people.
Too-liberal use of antibiotics, especially when patients do not finish their courses, allows multiplication of bugs that have mutated to become resistant.
If antibiotic use is not curbed, doctors could run out of effective treatment as certain bugs become resistant to more and more drugs. Pharmaceutical companies are unwilling to invest the billions of pounds needed to research and develop new antibiotics because they are not very profitable.
Dr Mark Enright, professor of molecular epidemiology at Imperial College London, said even common bacterial infections do not really need treating with antibiotics and usually go away on their own.
"In the old days, before we had problems with resistance, people thought it really didn't matter - you could throw antibiotics at these cases and you would pick up the odd one that was treatable that way," he said.
"I am sure there are still GPs who think they know best and think antibiotics are the global panacea we once thought they were."
The most common antibiotic ingredient, amoxicillin - one of the penicillin family - has become less effective because more bugs have become resistant to it. Other common generic antibiotic ingredients that are less effective include cefaclor, used for chest infections, and trimethoprim, used to treat urinary tract infections.
Prof Kevin Kerr, consultant microbiologist at Harrogate District Hospital, said the pressure on GPs to prescribe antibiotics can be immense. In some cases patients are told by one doctor in the practice that they do not need antibiotics only for them to book with another partner who is more willing to capitulate.
He said: "These campaigns are desperately needed. The focus has been on cleanliness and washing hands but without closing the circle by tackling prescribing it is only half the battle."
Norman Lamb, the Liberal Democrat health spokesman, said: "The Government has ignored the link between antibiotics and hospital infections for too long. Over-prescribing of broad-spectrum antibiotics is very dangerous."
Posts: 7772 | From Northeast, again... | Registered: Oct 2006
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Giving abx unnecessarily and patients not taking their abx as prescribed is contributing to the development of antibiotic resistant bacteria.
This is why it's important for research to come up with a better treatment for Chronic Lyme. Long term abx is one of the best treatments we have right now, but it's not ideal by any means.
-------------------- The best index to a person's character is how he treats people who can't do him any good, and how he treats people who can't fight back. -Abigail van Buren (Pauline Esther Friedman) (1918-2002) Posts: 409 | From Florida | Registered: Dec 2005
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Aniek
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
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posted
There is a difference in over prescribing antibiotics for colds versus longterm use for Lyme. One of the big problems with using it for colds is that people get very used to taking antibiotics and they stop taking them when the symptoms lapse.
So, if somebody does have a bacteria infection, the bacteria becomes resistant because they stop the antibiotic before the bacteria is killed.
A woman I work with recently had a sinus infection and did that. She just restarted it when the symptoms came back. It amazed me that people don't realize how stupid that is.
-------------------- "When there is pain, there are no words." - Toni Morrison Posts: 4711 | From Washington, DC | Registered: Mar 2004
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sparkle7
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posted
I know this is a hard one since many of you have done well with abx...
BUT isn't it the same if we take abx for a while & stop & switch?
I had really no change from taking Doxy, Plaquinil, Biaxin, and one or two others. I was about to start Flagyl when I just got sick of it all. I was having bad stomach cramps, my pain level was going up & I just had enough.
How is what we do different from people just taking abx when they have a bacterial infection? How do you know when it's over or if we are causing the "thing" to mutate? Whether it's Lyme or something else...
Posts: 7772 | From Northeast, again... | Registered: Oct 2006
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Aniek
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posted
Sparkle,
It's different because people take antibiotics for 2 or 3 days at a time when they don't have a bacterial infection.
People take enough antibiotics to make any bacteria in there system resistant. But not long enough to kill the bacteria. We take antibiotics for weeks and months.
Also, colds are viruses. Antibiotics don't kill them. So these people don't need antibiotics. We have a bacteria and need antibiotics.
-------------------- "When there is pain, there are no words." - Toni Morrison Posts: 4711 | From Washington, DC | Registered: Mar 2004
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Rianna
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posted
The superbugs over here in the UK are due to the squalid conditions of our hospitals - Most patients in the UK know they will come out of hospital with more than they went in with.
MRSA alone have risen 2300%
90 people died from an outbreak Clostridium difficile in a local hospitals recently.
The NHS hospitals here are squalid - they need to concentrate on that before diverting to the over use of antibiotic - When I was last in hospital here (last year) there was blood left on floors, patients left unfed, toilets not cleaned for days I could go on. It is on the news most days here.
Rianna (London UK)
Posts: 1172 | From UK | Registered: Jan 2007
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sparkle7
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Aniek (or anyone) - I'm not trying to be difficult, I just want to understand. Why would it be different if you are taking abx for a few days to get rid of a "bacterial" infection from having a cold (& not take the full course) or if you take an abx for months & not get rid of the Lyme spirochete?
Many of us know that abx are for bacterial infections that sometimes form when you have a cold from a virus & you can't get rid of it. I had that happen a few months ago. I was taking the abx anyway & it helped my chesty cold problem. It didn't help my spirochete problem, though. They way to tell if a cold turns bacterial is if the mucus turns yellow as opposed to being white or clear. I guess some doctors don't know this & give everyone with a cold an abx.
In any case, my point is how do we know that we are not creating super Lyme bugs by switching abx over longer periods of time?
ps- sorry the hospitals are so bad in the UK. I guess they need more cleaning crews - not lesser abx.
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Aniek
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posted
Sparkle - I never thought you were being difficult.
Yes, the Lyme can become resistant to the antibiotics that don't kill it. But our goal is to stay on antibiotics, with varying the antibiotics, until you do kill it.
Also, Lyme is much harder to pass on then airborne respiratory infections. Antibiotic resistant tuberculosis is such a huge concern because it is airborne. It can be passed on to passengers on an airplane.
-------------------- "When there is pain, there are no words." - Toni Morrison Posts: 4711 | From Washington, DC | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
Why don't they address the REAL problem? Drugs, especially antibiotics being given to chickens and cattle?
Growth hormones, estrogens, all kinds of CR** being given that most consume on a daily basis.
What does that do to our immune systems?
-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96222 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
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sparkle7
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
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posted
I agree, Lymetoo.
I still don't get it... How do we know if the abx aren't creating more drug-resistant Lyme just by taking them?
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