Can you imagine every person with a pink eye dying? Sounds ridiculously extreme, doesn't it? This is something our prospective children are staring at if the current trends progress. Antibiotic resistance is the new age pandemic and it is very real! Antibiotic resistance is spreading like wildfire, faster than an average man can comprehend. We've been reading innumerable articles on antibiotic resistance and how the future is bleak especially because organisms are mutating at a rate faster than the discovery of new antibiotics. The question however is, what are we doing about it?
A day ago, I decided to buy some antibiotics and tretinoin for my pustular acne that seems to have a mind of its own for the last month. (call it stress!) I was really appalled at how easily drugs are dispensed at pharmacies without a prescription. Of course, he had no idea that I was a doctor but gave me the tablets, nonetheless. The medications I bought need to be used extremely cautiously in a woman of child bearing age. Western countries do not dispense these medications without contraceptives because of the high teratogenic potential associated with them. Two decades ago, I wouldn't think its a big deal in our country. With the number of sexually active adolescents and young adults trending upwards, this awareness is paramount. Naturally, no instructions were given by the pharmacist. The only thing that was given was the tablet strips in the numbers that I asked them for.
Our mindsets are such that we stop using antibiotics that are prescribed to us the minute we start feeling better. As doctors prescribing antibiotics, it is our most important responsibility to stress on the need to complete a course of antibiotics given because failing to do so, is leading to rampant resistance.
We are facing situations where we have nothing to offer patients, not because they are suffering from terminal illnesses, such as a form of cancer, but even when they present with what should be curable infections due to pan resistanct strains of microorganisms that have forayed into Darwin's world. When asked, a forty five year old lady in the neighborhood admitted that she popped amoxicillin when she had a sore throat. Amoxicillin today is a household name in India. A little knowledge, however, is dangerous. Popping antibiotics for viral illnesses - against which these drugs are ineffective, has become an emerging trend. Self medicating is apparently the way these days due to sky rocketing health care visits. From medical students to health care personnel other than doctors, (nurses, pharmacists, physiotherapists etc) to the common man, everyone think they've read and learnt enough to treat themselves, unfortunately.
Patients prefer doctors who can provide instant cure. Doctor shopping is therefore a common entity these days. Practice pressures lead even doctors to prescribe unwanted antibiotics more often than not without procuring a culture sensitivity test.
For a country that wants to climb the ladders of global ranking, we should have more stringent and uniform rules in place when it comes to dispensing medications. Banning over the counter antibiotics has checked spreading resistance in the west. For starters, our health ministry should try and implement it. For a country that is not doing any cutting edge biotechnological research, it's our duty as citizens to atleast preserve what we have if we can't create something new.
The best solution however is prevention (which is better than cure!). Build your immunity and ward off infections by adopting healthy lifestyles. Preachy, no doubt but practical.
A day ago, I decided to buy some antibiotics and tretinoin for my pustular acne that seems to have a mind of its own for the last month. (call it stress!) I was really appalled at how easily drugs are dispensed at pharmacies without a prescription. Of course, he had no idea that I was a doctor but gave me the tablets, nonetheless. The medications I bought need to be used extremely cautiously in a woman of child bearing age. Western countries do not dispense these medications without contraceptives because of the high teratogenic potential associated with them. Two decades ago, I wouldn't think its a big deal in our country. With the number of sexually active adolescents and young adults trending upwards, this awareness is paramount. Naturally, no instructions were given by the pharmacist. The only thing that was given was the tablet strips in the numbers that I asked them for.
Our mindsets are such that we stop using antibiotics that are prescribed to us the minute we start feeling better. As doctors prescribing antibiotics, it is our most important responsibility to stress on the need to complete a course of antibiotics given because failing to do so, is leading to rampant resistance.
We are facing situations where we have nothing to offer patients, not because they are suffering from terminal illnesses, such as a form of cancer, but even when they present with what should be curable infections due to pan resistanct strains of microorganisms that have forayed into Darwin's world. When asked, a forty five year old lady in the neighborhood admitted that she popped amoxicillin when she had a sore throat. Amoxicillin today is a household name in India. A little knowledge, however, is dangerous. Popping antibiotics for viral illnesses - against which these drugs are ineffective, has become an emerging trend. Self medicating is apparently the way these days due to sky rocketing health care visits. From medical students to health care personnel other than doctors, (nurses, pharmacists, physiotherapists etc) to the common man, everyone think they've read and learnt enough to treat themselves, unfortunately.
Patients prefer doctors who can provide instant cure. Doctor shopping is therefore a common entity these days. Practice pressures lead even doctors to prescribe unwanted antibiotics more often than not without procuring a culture sensitivity test.
For a country that wants to climb the ladders of global ranking, we should have more stringent and uniform rules in place when it comes to dispensing medications. Banning over the counter antibiotics has checked spreading resistance in the west. For starters, our health ministry should try and implement it. For a country that is not doing any cutting edge biotechnological research, it's our duty as citizens to atleast preserve what we have if we can't create something new.
The best solution however is prevention (which is better than cure!). Build your immunity and ward off infections by adopting healthy lifestyles. Preachy, no doubt but practical.
Soon you will be asked a question - "what are upcimg challenges in the field of medicine"? I guess you have your answer here!
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