16 Mar 2012

Antibiotics warning from WHO chief

Health and Social Care Editor

The World Health Organisation is warning that the overuse of antibiotics means that in the near future something as simple as a scratched knee or a sore throat could kill, writes Victoria Macdonald.

The World Health Organisation is warning that the overuse of antibiotics means that in the near future something as simple as a scratched knee or a sore throat could kill (Getty)

The WHO director-general Dr Margaret Chan said the most common infections are starting to become drug-resistant.

“Things as common as strep throat or a child’s scratched knee could once again kill,” Dr Chan warned.

Speaking at the launch of a new book, The evolving threat of antimicrobial resistance – Options for action, she also said that some operations like hip replacements, organ transplants, cancer chemotherapy and care of pre-term infants would become far more difficult or even too dangerous to undertake.

There have been warnings about antibiotic resistance for more than a decade now. The emergence of a number of infections such as MRSA and MSSA has placed this on the political agenda because of the risk to patients in hospitals and nursing homes, especially in people with open wounds or weakened immune systems.

More recently has seen a rise in case of tuberculosis that are now resistance to multi antibiotic treatments.

Dr Chan, speaking to a group of infectious disease experts, blamed overprescribing and misuse of these drugs.

Read more: Channel 4 News special report - The NHS uncovered

“In terms of new replacement antibiotics, the pipeline is virtually dry,” Dr Chan said.

“But much can be done. This includes prescribing antibiotics appropriately and only when needed, following treatment correctly, restricting the use of antibiotics in food production to therapeutic purposes and tackling the problem of substandard and counterfeit medicines.”

The book highlights some of the successful strategies being used to deal with the problem. In Thailand, for instance, there is an “Antibiotic Smart Use” programme which has reduced prescribing and demands for the drugs of between 19-46 per cent. More telling, 97 per cent of patients targeted in the programme recovered or improved regardless of whether they had taken antibiotics.

In Norway, they have introduced effective vaccines in farmed salmon and trout and with improved fish health management the annual use of antimicrobials in farmed fish fell by 98 per cent between 1987 and 2004.

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