One of the things that fires me up is the is the careless way antibiotics are used by heaps of people. Countless times I have heard people with a mild common cold suggest they need antibiotics…… No, you don’t, it’s a VIRUS! I guess being trained in The Netherlands together with a keen interest in Infectious disease made me a little more aware of this issue. In the Netherlands doctor’s are generally quite restrictive when it comes to using antibiotics.
What brings me to write about this topic is the recent three day conference on antibiotic resistance, in Uppsala Sweden. Specialist from all area’s concerned with antibiotic resistance sat together to discuss solutions to solve the growing problem of antibiotic resistance.
Their message:
- After 70 years of mismanagement with devastating results for global health it’s time to take action
- Combat unnecessary use of antibiotics to reduce the risk of further resistance
- De-link the development for new antibiotics with commerce to reduce the incentive for pharmaceuticals to boost unnecessary sales to earn back the research
- Increase the availability of antibiotics in low-resource settings (if people can afford a full course easy they’re likely to finish a whole course)
- Improve worldwide antibiotic resistance monitoring
You can find the official press release here.