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Antibiotics are viewed
as the rock stars of medicine. (Photo courtesy
South Carolina Department of Health and
Environmental Control) |
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When our throats burn, we’re
conditioned to reach for antibiotics. When our noses
run, we hound doctors for antibiotics. When we’re too
groggy to drive to the doctor, we search our medicine
cabinets for leftover antibiotics.
Four out of five Americans are prescribed the drugs
every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention. Up to half of the estimated 258 million
prescriptions are unnecessary, the agency reports.
“We need a total culture change,” said Jesse Goodman,
director of Georgetown
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University’s Center on Medical Product Access, Safety and
Stewardship and a former FDA chief scientist. “Patient and
doctor must understand these drugs are precious resources. The
more we use them, and the more unwisely, the more resistance.”
President Obama announced a plan this week to nearly double the
amount of federal funding dedicated to fighting
antibiotic-resistant bacteria, a national health threat the CDC
says annually causes an estimated 2 million illnesses and 23,000
deaths.
The president will ask Congress for $1.2 billion as part
of his annual budget request. Funds would be used to hasten the
development of antibiotics and diagnostic tools, heighten
surveillance for “superbugs” and curb the spread of
antibiotic-resistant microbes in medical settings.
The proposal follows the White House’s five-year plan, which
last year ordered federal agencies to escalate efforts to “to
better protect our children and grandchildren from the
reemergence of diseases and infections that the world conquered
decades ago.”
Our overuse might be a branding problem. Antibiotic-resistant
bacteria is a plight triggered by overuse. And overuse is driven
partly by a pervasive belief that the drugs can conquer all. It
started nearly a century ago.
Alexander Fleming, a Scottish biologist, discovered penicillin
in 1928 and, with it, effective treatment for pneumonia,
gonorrhea and rheumatic fever. Advertisements in the 1940s and
'50s intensified our growing affection. One popular public
health sign declared: “Penicillin cures Gonorrhea in four
hours!” Another brand of antibiotic "candettes" promised
“immediate, soothing relief” to sore throat sufferers.
“They were seen as safe, miracle drugs with few side effects,”
Goodman said. “It got out of hand.”
Pharmaceutical companies today are less outwardly aggressive
about peddling antibiotics. “But in some cases,” he said,
“marketing can promote an antibiotic as powerful and reliable
and, anecdotally, lead people to perhaps reach for it when an
older or less broadly active one would have worked.”
The result: Slowly and surely, we’re weakening our miracle
drugs. The first step to recovery is to stop thinking they’re
dispensable.
About 36 percent of Americans incorrectly believe antibiotics
can fight viral infections, a recent Pew survey found. The drug
can treat only bacterial ailments, like strep throat and urinary
tract infections and a range of sexually transmitted diseases.
We can’t banish upper respiratory infections, for example, with
antibiotics. Coughs and colds are generally caused by viruses.
But as many as 50 percent of people who visit their doctor’s
office for an infection, even for a runny nose, will walk out
with an antibiotic, the CDC reports.
And a recent survey by Harvard researchers found doctors
prescribed antibiotics to 60 percent of sore throat patients,
though the drug is thought to be necessary in only 10 percent of
cases. A whopping 73 percent of patients diagnosed with acute
bronchitis -- best treated with ibuprofen and a humidifier --
received unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions.
Some researchers blame decision fatigue: Doctors are much more
likely to prescribe needless antibiotics to a patient with an
acute respiratory illness if the visit is scheduled during the
end of a clinic shift, a study published in JAMA Internal
Medicine found.
Many are reluctant to wait out the malaise, though some
physicians recommend giving an illness time to clear up on its
own. This is a society of immediate gratification, raised on
rose-colored tales of antibiotics. |