EU deputies highlight antibiotic risk

MEPs will mark European antibiotic awareness days in the European parliament in Strasbourg with a seminar highlighting the dangers of excessive antibiotic use.

Writing in the latest edition of The Parliament Magazine, British MEP John Bowis said that the problem of antibiotic resistance was not well enough understood among EU citizens.

“European antibiotic awareness day 2008 will focus specifically on the need for everybody to stop any unnecessary use of antibiotics,” he writes.

“Unnecessary use may include taking antibiotics without a prescription from a doctor, demanding antibiotics to treat a viral infection such as a cold or flu, and not following a prescribed dosing regimen correctly.”

He stresses that “antibiotics are only effective against bacterial infections and cannot help the recovery process from infections caused by viruses” and that “taking antibiotics for the wrong reason such as against colds and flu causes bacteria to become resistant to antibiotic treatments, kills helpful bacteria and often results in side-effects such as diarrhoea”.

The event in parliament hosted by Bowis is just one of many to mark European antibiotic awareness day on 18 November. Others include nationwide TV and radio spots in some countries, the distribution of public information leaflets and posters in hospitals and primary care centres, articles in newspapers and magazines and the setting up of competitions for school children.

European antibiotic awareness day is an initiative of the European centre for disease prevention and control, and its director Zsuzsanna Jakab, also writing in The Parliament Magazine, warns that the future of medical treatment is at stake.

“Modern medicine could soon be rendered impossible without antibiotics. Unchecked, the development of antibiotic resistance will have huge consequences for mankind.”

She notes that of the 37,000 deaths each year across the EU from healthcare-associated infections, about half will have died because of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

“Furthermore, in some European countries we are starting to see the emergence of bacteria that are resistant to all known antibiotics,” she adds.

“Overuse of antibiotics in some countries is accelerating the development and spread of resistant bacteria that render antibiotics ineffective – in other words, the more antibiotics are used, the more bacteria responsible for infections in patients are resistant to antibiotics.”

But she notes that “some countries with previously high levels of antibiotic resistance and antibiotic consumption have improved their situation… through the implementation of extensive antibiotic control programmes, including public awareness campaigns”.

France, Belgium and Slovenia have been particularly successful in this regard, she says, adding that the “ECDC made the decision to launch the first-ever European antibiotic awareness day based on the successful experience of these countries”.

“Since antibiotic resistance transcends national boundaries, drug resistant bacteria can spread from one place to another. The central message of European antibiotic awareness day is that keeping antibiotics effective is everyone’s responsibility.”

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