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Why antibiotics are over-prescribed?

Posted by: on: March 7, 2014

Why antibiotics are over-prescribed?

“Some of the big guns in terms of antibiotics may be overused. We need to reserve those for the most severe infections.” DR. TOM FRIEDEN, CDC DIRECTOR

Circa news posted this MARCH 5, 2014

CDC says doctors still over-prescribing antibiotics

A CDC report shows that the prescription of antibiotics for the same condition varies greatly, with some doctors prescribing 3 times more antibiotics than their peers.

The CDC released a report on March 4 that says that if doctors and hospitals reduce antibiotics prescriptions by 30%, it could lead to a 26% reduction of infections of Clostridium difficlile (C.diff,) a potentially fatal bacterial infection. The report was based on records from hundreds of hospitals.

2 On March 4, the CDC submitted its 2015 budget request which includes $30 million for 5 new labs that would be used to assist doctors in diagnosing drug-resistant infections.

Anxiety over drug-resistant bacteria has been around as long as antibiotics.

Scientists learned early on that antibiotics would knock out most of the cells of an infection, but some strains would survive and multiply.

4 Modern medicine has exacerbated the problem with cancer treatments that weaken the immune system, and with the use of catheters, which make it easier for infections to enter the bloodstream.
5 Dame Sally Davies, chief medical officer for the UK, told the UK’s parliament in Jan. 2013 that surgeries now considered simple could soon become life-threatening due to the danger of infection. Bacteria are becoming resistant to many of the antibiotics now available.
6 A survey published on July 4, 2013 showed 80,000 people were currently fighting drug-resistant superbugs in European hospitals, according to the European Centre for Diseases Prevention and Control, the EU’s disease monitoring agency. Some 3.2 million people are infected annually in Europe.
7 Drug-resistant bacteria kills 23,000 people a year in the U.S., roughly the same as those killed by the flu, according to a separate report released Sept. 16, 2013 by the CDC. The report is the government’s first estimate of the death toll of drug-resistant bacterial infections.
8 During a Dec. 12, 2013 House hearing at the Oversight subcommittee on Energy Policy, Healthcare and Entitlements, FDA Drug Evaluation Director Janet Woodcock said the agency wants Congress to pass legislation establishing an FDA program to develop drugs targeting drug resistant bacteria.

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