Danger to people who frequently take antibiotics

People are increasingly dependent on antibiotics, and this has led to an enormous increase in consumption over the last decade, experts say, according to Quartz. From 2000 to 2015, 65% more antibiotics were sold globally, according to Johns Hopkins, Princeton University researchers, and according to data from the Center for Disease Dynamics in Washington. Researchers analyzed studies from over 76 countries on a range of over 100 types of antibiotics in collaboration with IQVIA, a health research company located in Durham, North Carolina. To determine if individuals take more antibiotics, researchers convert data into daily individualized doses and divide them into 1. 000 people per country. The result: people take 39% more antibiotics than they took in 2000.

The study was published on March 26 in the National Academic Journal of Science. Antibiotics save lives by treating bacterial infections, but many public health officials are worried that doctors abuse prescriptions. These drugs treat only bacterial infections and are unnecessary for viruses that cause flu or respiratory infections. Healthcare providers often prescribe antibiotics to patients when they suspect a bacterial infection. However, confirming the type of infection through a culture is a procedure that lasts, and most of the times patients and doctors do not want to wait.

As a result, physicians often prescribe antibiotics with a preventive role. Scientists specializing in microbiology have recently realized that these drugs give birth to antibiotic-resistant bacteria, known as super-viruses. Superviruses are bacteria that have evolved by going through different types of antibiotics. When a supervirus produces an infection, a higher dose of antibiotics is required, which usually has many unwanted effects and does not always work, writes Mediafax. .