Prescribing changes are helping in the fight against antibiotic resistance

Doctors are getting the message that prescribing unnecessary antibiotics only encourages the emergence of antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria. A survey by researchers in San Francisco compared prescribing habits in 1991 with those in 1999. The good news is that doctors are now far less likely to give antibiotics inappropriately - to treat a cold, for instance.

On the downside is the increased trend toward prescribing broad-spectrum antibiotics - from 24 per cent of prescriptions to 48 per cent in adults and from 24 per cent to 40 per cent in children. This will encourage antibiotic resistance, for only the most virulent strains survive exposure to broad spectrum drugs. These bacteria can then go on to cause life-threatening untreatable infections.

Broad spectrum antibiotics are also more costly than narrow spectrum antibiotics - with a seven day course costing around 50 dollars compared to just five dollars. The researchers say it's not clear why doctors favor broad spectrum antibiotics so much. It may be that because many are newer drugs, doctors and patients believe they must be better. Clearly there is further room for improvement in antibiotic prescribing behavior, although important progress has been made.

Source

Annals of Internal Medicine 1st April 2003