Heartbeat: Are you antibiotic aware?

January 17, 2021

Antibiotics are incredibly important medicines and effectively fight infections caused by bacteria but their widespread misuse has increasingly led to bacteria adapting and evolving to become resistant to them. Once this happens, those antibiotics quickly lose their effectiveness and no longer work.

Every year, Antibiotic Awareness Day is held on November 18 bringing the spotlight on the ever present danger of antibiotic overuse and resistance.

Antibiotics do not help fight infections that are caused by viruses. All colds and most coughs and sore throats are caused by viruses. Viral infections are much more common than bacterial infections.

In recent years fewer new antibiotics have been discovered. As antibiotic resistance grows, it will become more difficult to treat infection, and this affects patient care.

To find out more about antibiotic guardianship, Heartbeat spoke to Conor Jamieson Pharmacy Team Leader – Antimicrobial Therapy, he said: “Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest threats facing us today and the overuse or misuse of antibiotics is making the problem worse. Without effective antibiotics, many routine treatments will become increasingly dangerous. Setting broken bones, basic operations, transplants, even chemotherapy all rely on access to antibiotics that work. To slow resistance we need to cut the use of unnecessary antibiotics.

“The key points to remember are that antibiotics are not harmless; they are medicines in their own right and can have serious side effects, as well as important drug interactions. Inappropriate use of antibiotics may cause patients to become colonised or infected with resistant bacteria.”

Research published in The Lancet in 2018 shows that 33,300 patients die each year due to antibiotic-resistant infections in Europe. If we don’t change how we prescribe and use antibiotics, by 2050 there will be an extra 10 million deaths each year worldwide due to resistant infections, with an associated economic cost of £66 trillion.

All medical, nursing and pharmacy colleagues can play their part in antibiotic stewardship, ensuring that every prescription for antibiotics has the indication, duration or a review date documented. Antibiotics should be reviewed regularly to make sure they are still needed. We need to change the focus from ‘Is it safe to stop antibiotics?’ to ‘Is it safe to continue antibiotics?’

Always check a patient’s drug allergy status before prescribing or administering any antibiotics. Always check for drug interactions before prescribing them. Make sure the dose is appropriate for their weight and renal function. You can report adverse reactions to medicines via the Yellow Card Scheme.

So what can individuals do to help tackle antibiotic resistance? It might seem to be an overwhelming problem, like climate change, that individuals are powerless to do anything about, but that is not the case. Simple actions can help protect you, your family and loved ones – don’t ask your GP for antibiotics for a cold, flu or sore throat, they don’t work against viruses, and avoiding taking antibiotics when they aren’t needed is a great way to avoid the side effects they cause; antibiotics can alter the balance of bacteria in the gut and can have longer-term health implications that we are only beginning to realise. Ensure you and your loved ones are up to date with their vaccines. Practice good hand hygiene.

Sign up to become an Antibiotic Guardian – Antibiotic Guardian is a campaign run by Public Health England and a range of partners. Health professionals, patients, health leaders and those who work with, own or treat animals are being encouraged to visit www.antibioticguardian.com and choose a pledge that they can fulfil and play their part in protecting some of our most precious medicines.