More and more bacteria are turning antibiotic resistant or what is known in common terns as becoming ‘superbugs’. This has led to national and international health organizations like the Infectious Diseases Society of America and even the World Health Organization declare antibiotic resistance as a crisis and are supporting science in finding out ways to deal with antibiotic resistance. The United States has just 4.6% of the World population but 46% of the global antibiotic market indicating the intensity of antibiotic abuse in the republic.
Finding a solution
This is a national crisis and a global crisis as well so the solution has to happen on a large scale and it is not easy to control antibiotic abuse and alter the antibiotic resistance for a huge population.
Causes of antibiotic resistance
In order to stop something, the root causes have to be determined. Here are some statistics from reliable sources.
The European Union has conducted a detailed research on the resistance data by microbes over 15 years covering 26 countries and these are some of the relevant findings:
• Greece tops the per capita antibiotic use, statistically 38%. The country also has a 58% methicillin resistance.
• Netherlands has the lowest intensity of antibiotic abuse of just about 0.2% with 1.6% methicillin resistance.
These statistics prove a high positive correlation between antibiotic abuse and antibiotic resistance. Hence, the steadiest of all ways to deal with antibiotic resistance would be to control the antibiotic abuse happening worldwide.
Controlling antibiotic use on farm animals
The use of antibiotics must be controlled in order to decrease and eventually do away with the abuse. Antibiotic use itself has been restricted in some areas that are more prone to spreading the resistance. In the United States, about 80% of antibiotic use is done for the growth of farm animals and for their disease prevention. This has led to the resistant genes originate in farm animals like chickens and passed on to human beings through the food chain.
Antibiotic Stewardship
Antibiotic Stewardship or Antimicrobial Stewardship is a program coordinated to promote judicious use of antimicrobials and improve the health of patients with just the required amount of drug use. It helps reduce microbial resistance and therefore controls diseases caused by the ‘superbugs’.
Here are the core elements of Antibiotic Stewardship that are in themselves some really effective ways to deal with antibiotic resistance:
1. Biomark the level of infection using procalcitonin (a peptide precursor of calcitonin) to determine the amount of antibiotic needed. Conduct well-controlled and precise test trials to determine the right amount.
2. Short courses of antibiotics are more effective than prolonged treatments so break up the courses into short trial parts and stop when it is enough.
3. Oral formulations are to be preferred to intravenous use as the discharge of the drug is faster and more effective the oral way than in the IV way. This also prevents all risks associated with IV catheters.
4. Use drugs like colistin very carefully as these drugs are indispensable but their overdose is common.
5. Antibiotic redundancy is to be avoided at any cost.
Individual efforts
No amount of awareness or restriction is going to work if people at the individual level do not understand the ill-effects of drug overdose. Here are some good habits we all must inculcate and insist our friends and family to practice too:
6. Ways to deal with antibiotic resistance includes not skipping doses or continuing to take extra medicines beyond the prescribed dose. Stick to the prescribed dose and complete the course of treatment even if you feel alright half way through the course. Not completing courses can result in the relapse of the infection and this time, the bacteria can be immune to the same drugs that were getting you better earlier.
7. Never use leftover antibiotics even for common illnesses and do not share your medicines with anybody who asks for. Antibiotics must always be consumed on personal prescription. It is best to return leftover drugs to the authorized store to avoid wastage.
8. Do not insist your doctor to prescribe you medicines even when they claim you do not need it and report drug stores that sell antibiotics without prescriptions.
9. Ask for tests to confirm the right type and amount of antibiotic to be prescribed before buying all the medicines prescribed.
As prevention is always better than cure, practice good hygiene and avoid germs altogether to prevent diseases instead of looking for a cure later.
Leave a Reply