Calls for people to stop using – or reduce the use of – antibiotics

The ‘Keep Antibiotics Working’ campaign is urging patients not to ask their GP or doctor for antibiotics in a bid to tackle the reported growing resistance to the medicine.

When we have an infection, antibiotic treatments can help to kill the bacteria. However, around 5,000 people reportedly die each year in England because antibiotics don’t work for some infections because they’ve grown a resistance to the medicine.

The campaign was launched by Public Health England in recognition that overuse of antibiotics – and other factors – has helped infections strengthen their resistance to the medicines.

Professor Dame Sally Davies, Chief Medical Officer for England, said:

“Without effective antibiotics, minor infections could become deadly and many medical advances could be at risk – surgery, chemotherapy and Caesareans could become simply too dangerous.”

Much like a vaccine, if a bacteria is exposed to weak or insufficient antibiotics, it may survive and learn how to fight the medicine. The bacteria can build up a defence and could end up being resistant to the antibiotic.

The campaign advises patients to listen to their doctor, nurse or pharmacist on whether they should take antibiotics and how much to take. Prescriptions should be followed strictly and not saved for later or given to other people. In doing so, we may only be helping bacteria strengthen their resistance.

Antibiotics are not supposed to work for common ailments like colds, flu, earaches, sore throats and some chest infections. Using a friend’s or family member’s leftover antibiotics is not the way to effectively treat such a condition and may simply help bacteria in your body recognise the medication and learn how to resist it.

Dame Sally Davies explains that:

“…reducing inappropriate use of antibiotics can help us stay ahead of superbugs.”

Mrs Melissa Mead warned of overly-cautious GP’s after her son died of sepsis following a chest infection. William was ill for many weeks and was reportedly seen by six GP’s who all failed to diagnose a chest infection and eventual pneumonia resulting in the sepsis that tragically killed him.

A report linked his death to the pressure on GP’s to reduce antibiotic prescriptions.

Mrs Mead recognises that antibiotics could have saved her son’s life, but at the same time, overuse could “prevent serious infections such as sepsis responding to treatment.”

GP’s are entrusted to conduct thorough observations and provide accurate prescriptions to treat ailments. They cannot afford to over – or under – prescribe antibiotics.

Medical Director for Public Health England, Professor Paul Cosford, warns:

“Antibiotic resistance is not a distant threat, but is in fact one of the most dangerous global crises facing the modern world today.”