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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Rise in drug-resistant bugs due to overuse of antibiotics -Durgesh Nandan Jha

Rise in drug-resistant bugs due to overuse of antibiotics -Durgesh Nandan Jha

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published Published on May 1, 2013   modified Modified on May 1, 2013
-The Times of India


Overuse of antibiotics has led to a situation in which even simple infections acquired outside the hospital are turning drug-resistant. This has been revealed in a recent study conducted by a city private hospital on ICU patients. It showed that nearly one-fourth of all admissions due to infection of the urinary tract, pneumonia or blood stream infection were community-acquired which means that these people contracted the drug-resistant infections outside a health care setting.

"About 70% of the community-acquired infections were resistant to fourth generation antibiotics which is a dangerous trend. It shows that the drug-resistant bacteria, usually found in hospital settings, are now breeding in the community too," said Dr Sumit Ray, the lead investigator and vice-president of the critical care department at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital. He said that overuse of antibiotics and over-the-counter sale and purchase of these drugs is behind increasing drug resistance.

The problem, he added, is likely to aggravate further if urgent steps are not taken to check the misuse and overuse of antibiotics. "Growing resistance would mean that even a simple urinary tract infection or pneumonia, which is common especially in immune-compromised patients such as diabetics and kidney patients, may land one in the ICU. The mortality rate in drug-resistant infections is as high as 33 percent," said Ray.

Antibiotic therapy involving top-line drugs (fifth generation antibiotics such as Carbapenem) costs anywhere between Rs 60,000 and one lakh for each course excluding admission charges which puts a huge financial burden on the patient, said another senior doctor. "In some patients, even the fifth generation antibiotics do not work. So we have started a new treatment module where basic but heavily toxic drugs are administered. The bacteria does not recognize it and gets destroyed but it leaves a bad impact on the kidney and other organs of the patient," said Dr Ray.

Resistance to antibiotics is becoming a serious threat for India because of the popular habit of popping pills at will. Even World Health Organization has issued a warning that the world is staring at a post-antibiotics era, when common infections will no longer have a cure. "We have proposed a restrictive policy for over-the-counter sale of third and fourth generation antibiotics to deal with the drug resistance problem. They will be included in the H1 category at present which means that these drugs can only be sold on the basis of prescription and both the chemist and the doctor would have to maintain a record of it. Also, these drugs will come with a warning," said a senior health ministry official.


The Times of India, 30 April, 2013, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/science/Rise-in-drug-resistant-bugs-due-to-overuse-of-antibiotics/articleshow/19791931.cms


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