Let us keep you informed via our e mail news update. Click here for more information. Check the latest news now at our headline page. Discuss MRSA using the comments link at foot of stories). Discover our MRSA Watch book of the month - Visit our bookstore. We have 2,800+ stories - see list below or categories in side columns.
Link: Massive cost of wasted NHS drugs.
PATIENTS failing to take their drugs are costing the region £44m every year. The figure - which would pay for more than 2,000 extra nurses - is spent on prescription drugs that are given to the sick but never taken. It is based on the latest official government estimates and backed by north west health bosses, who are urging people to finish the drugs prescribed to them. Advertisement your story continues below They say that wasted drugs not only take money from the health economy but are partly responsible for the rise of dangerous infections like MRSA.
Link: RedOrbit
Despite evidence that proper use of antimicrobials prevents postoperative infections, it's a challenge to set up a system to ensure antibiotics are used properly. Christiana Care Health System in Newark, Del, formed an interdisciplinary committee to develop an antimicrobial prophylaxis protocol in January 2004. The goal was a protocol that made it easy for surgeons to order the appropriate antibiotics based on national standards. At first, a generic order based on the recommended antibiotics seemed like the answer. The surgeons could just check a box that said: "Institute surgical prophylaxis." A nurse and pharmacist would then use a checklist to identify the planned procedure and which antibiotics should be given according to the protocol. But this approach didn't improve compliance. Many surgeons were opposed because they thought someone else was ordering their antibiotics for them. Leaders went back to the drawing board and came up with an approach using standard orders, which has been more successful. The project started with formation of an interdisciplinary team to develop the antimicrobial prophylaxis protocol.
This will be of interest to medical professionals - very helpful analysis - click the link above
Link: Examiner.
HEALTH experts have called for urgent action to limit antibiotic use in hospitals and the community as superbugs other than MRSA show growing resistance to treatment. New Irish data on bloodstream infections from E coli and E faecium shows growing resistance to antibiotics, reducing treatment options. Scientists at Ireland's agency for the surveillance of communicable diseases, the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC), have said excessive use of antibiotics in Irish hospitals is a major factor in the emergence of "multi-drug resistant" strains of the infections. The number of cases of E coli infection - which is potentially fatal - that are resistant to antibiotics called fluoroquinolones increased in Ireland from 5% in 2002 to 17% in October 2005.
Link: TradingMarkets.com
ViroPharma acquired Vancocin from Eli Lilly and Company in November 2004 and is currently the primary revenue earner for the company. In 2005, ViroPharma earned $125.9 million through sale of Vancocin in 2005. The company said it believed that with the increase in patients with C. difficile bacterium associated diseases that were sometimes life-threatening; the appropriate expert advisory groups must validate the scientific and medical appropriateness of the approval standards for a generic locally acting vancomycin capsule product. C. difficile may colonize the lower gastrointestinal tract after an antibiotic therapy, producing toxins which cause inflammation of the colon and diarrhea. It can lead to further complications including death. There are approximately 3,000,000 cases of antibiotic-associated diarrhea per year, of which 15%-25% are caused by C. difficile.
Link: Infection Control Today
Children exposed to at least one course of antibiotics in their first year of life may have an increased risk of developing childhood asthma. New research published in the March issue of Chest, the peer-reviewed journal of the AmericanCollege of Chest Physicians (ACCP), shows that children under age 1 who were treated with an antibiotic were twice as likely as untreated children to develop asthma in childhood. In addition, the use of multiple antibiotics in infants appeared to further increase the risk of developing asthma. “Antibiotic use in children has been found to coincide with an increased incidence of childhood asthma,” said lead author Carlo Marra, Pharm D, PhD, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada. “Although the causal nature between antibiotics and asthma is still unclear, our overall results show that treatment with at least one antibiotic as an infant appears to be associated with the development of childhood asthma.”
Link: TheKansasCityChannel.com
If your child's been sick and you were hoping for a round of antibiotics, you might be disappointed. Doctors are taking the problem of antibiotic resistance seriously and they are not being as generous with drugs as they used to be, KMBC's Kelly Eckerman reported. Grant Allen, 7, started running a fever. Five days later, he was still sick, so his mother took him to the doctor hoping to get antibiotics to speed up his recovery. "It was just frustrating. I was in and out of work. He was in and out of school missing so much," Grant's mother, Lara Allen, said. Grant tested negative for strep, so he was not prescribed antibiotics. Doctors warn that overuse of antibiotics is causing superbugs that can be harmful to everyone, and antibiotics need to be saved for time that they are likely to do the most good and not on a case-by-case basis. "It's a problem with the bacteria itself. They become what we call superbugs. So bacteria you carry in your body are smarter than the antibiotic basically, and you share that very smart superbug with another person and they also have that same resistance. So an entire community can have these very resistant bacteria that are very difficult to treat," Dr. Elizabeth Simpson said.
Link: CTV.ca
The rate of antibiotic prescriptions written in Canada rose marginally last year, a report released Thursday showed. While the increase was slight, experts expressed concern that with rising usage comes greater risk that bacteria will develop resistance to these essential drugs. Canadian doctors wrote 63.5 prescriptions for every 100 Canadians in 2005, up from 61.9 per 100 in 2004, the annual report from the National Information Program on Antibiotics revealed. It's not clear what drove the increase. "This may not seem like a major change but it's the first time in 10 years that we have seen an increase in antibiotic use. And this needs to be followed up closely," said Dr. Francois Boucher, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the Centre hospitalier universitaire de Quebec in Quebec City. "It should serve as a wake-up call to everyone -- physicians, pharmacists and patients -- that we need to be more judicious about our use of antibiotics.''
Link: - toledoblade.com -.
"We're alarmed. In fact, it's much more alarming than the threat of bioterrorism or avian flu," said Dr. David Gilbert, past president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. "It's much more likely you'll be infected with a resistant strain of bacteria than you'll get the avian flu. We're dealing with resistant bacteria every day." What that means is someone might come down with something that seems innocuous such as an annoying skin rash. But that rash could end up being a resistant form of bacteria that begins to eat away at healthy skin. "We're seeing much more of the resistant staph [infection]," Dr. Gilbert said. "And bacteria that normally live in the intestinal tract, like E. coli, they used to be sensitive to 10 different antibiotics. Now they're increasingly resistant to everything. You go to the cupboard [to find medication] and you don't have anything to treat the patient with."
Link: eircom net
Some 19 out of 101 poultry meat samples tested positive for the drug in 2004, with nicarbazin the leading offender followed by a similar drug lasalocid, the Teagasc database reveals. "Results have revealed a high incidence of nicarbazin contamination in domestic poultry liver. Lasalocid is found in some liver samples at high levels. Nicarbazin and lasalocid residues may be detected also in some egg samples," the database said. The problem with these drugs may occur because of contamination of chicken feed at feedmills or poor feed control practices on the farm, Teagasc said. Antibiotics are of particular concern because their widespread use in farming could contribute to the growth of resistant strains of bacteria such as MRSA continue to be found in Irish food at a "relatively low but persistent incidence of positive samples, particularly in pork and poultry meats", they noted.
Link: International Journal for Quality in Health Care.
All consecutive patients from May 2001 to November 2001 (N = 524) and March 2002 to September 2002 (N = 536).
Intervention. A real-time microbiology browser and computerized decision support system for isolate directed antibiotic prescription.
Main outcome measures. Number of courses of antibiotic prescribed, antibiotic utilization (defined daily doses (DDDs)/100 ICU bed-days), antibiotic susceptibility mismatches, and system uptake.
Results. There was a significant reduction in the proportion of patients prescribed carbapenems [odds ratio (OR) = 0.61, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.39-0.97, P = 0.04], third-generation cephalosporins (OR = 0.58, 95% CI = 0.42-0.79, P = 0.001), and vancomycin (OR = 0.67, 95% CI = 0.45-1.00, P = 0.05) after adjustment for risk factors including Apache II score, suspected infection, positive microbiology, intubation, and length of stay. The decision support tool was associated with a 10.5% reduction in both total antibiotic utilization (166-149 DDDs/100 ICU bed days) and the highest volume broad-spectrum antibiotics. There were fewer susceptibility mismatches for initial antibiotic therapy (OR = 0.63, 95% CI = 0.39-0.98, P = 0.02) and increased de-escalation to narrower spectrum antibiotics. Uptake of the program was high with 6028 access episodes during the 6-month evaluation period.
Conclusions. This tool streamlined collation and clinical use of microbiology results and integrated into the daily ICU work-flow. Its introduction was accompanied by a reduction in both total and broad-spectrum antibiotic use and an increase in the number of switches to narrower spectrum antibiotics.
Keywords: antibiotic use, computerized decision support, intensive care.
Link: European Public Health Alliance.
The overuse and misuse of antibiotics have accelerated the global development of bacteria and other microbes immune to drugs normally used to fight them. This phenomenon, known as “antimicrobial resistance”, can pose a serious danger to public health, as traditional treatments for various medical conditions are rendered ineffective.
A new report from the European Commission, following the Council Recommendation of 15 November 2001 on the prudent use of antimicrobial agents in human medicine, highlights key areas which need to be addressed by Member States to tackle antimicrobial resistance, in particular better infection control, reduced self-medication of antibiotics, and more information for citizens on the proper use of antimicrobial treatments.
The Council Recommendation called on national authorities to take action to contain the spread of antimicrobial resistance in the EU, by encouraging the more prudent use of antibiotics in humans. While the report recognises some good progress made by Member States in putting measures in place against antimicrobial resistance, notably improved surveillance of antibiotic use and resistance, and closer cooperation between different professionals on this issue, it states that more still needs to be done. It stresses that Member States need to develop and implement national strategies and action plans to tackle the problem of antimicrobial resistance, and there should be better exchange of good practice on issues such as vaccination campaigns, and hygiene and infection control.
Self-medication with antibiotics is still a problem in many Member States, according to the report, which is why a “prescription only” approach should be strictly enforced and educational activities are needed. The Commission suggests that all countries should have guidelines on appropriate antimicrobial treatment, at least for the most common illnesses, and that information and education available to citizens on antimicrobials should be improved. Public health institutions are strongly advised to step up infection control measures to counter the spread of “super-bugs” such as MRSA. Finally, the importance of international cooperation on antimicrobial resistance is emphasised due to the global nature of the problem. The Commission works closely with international partners such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) on this issue.
Link: EDP24
A Norfolk hospital is winning the fight against superbugs after a shake-up in its use of antibiotics.
Consultant microbiologist Lynne Liebowitz has seen a dramatic fall in cases of MRSA since she joined the Queen Elizabeth Hospital at King's Lynn in the summer.
She has been advising all clinicians to stop administer-ing broad-spectrum anti-biotics, which can affect the body's resistance to the bug.
In the six months since she arrived, the MRSA rate has fallen from an average of four cases each month to just one, and the total number of cases last year halved compared with 2004, from 54 to 27.
"Treating any patient with an antibiotic kills off all the bacteria that are sensitive to that particular drug, while allowing resistant strains to multiply and spread," said Prof Liebowitz, who formerly held the chair of microbiology at Stellenbosch University in South Africa.
"What I've done since I've been here is not recommend certain antibiotics, and I've had the co-operation and support of all the clinicians.
"It's all about team work. There are many alternative antibiotics, and we should use the most appropriate one for the infection and the one less likely to build up resistance.
Link: BMJ.
Resistance to antimicrobials in humans and animals
Overusing antibiotics is not the only cause and reducing use is not the only solution
The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.
Warning signs of antimicrobial resistance, chinks in the antimicrobial armour, began to appear in the middle of the last century, and by the 1990s various reports had signalled the dangers of excessive or inappropriate use of antibiotics in clinical medicine and of the use of antibiotics in animal feed as growth promoters.1-3 Overuse of antimicrobials emerged as the main culprit, and reducing their use was seen as the answer. But it may not be that simple. The idea that reducing antibiotic use would redress the problem formed part of a positive response on the part of the United Kingdom government to the House of Lords report,1 including a public information campaign, surveillance of resistance along the food chain, targets with respect to hospital acquired infections, and setting up of an overarching advisory body on all aspects of antibiotic use
Link: Infection Control
In conclusion, we found that physicians prescribed antibiotics less frequently over time to children with sore throat. However, the overall antibiotic prescribing rate continues to exceed the expected prevalence of GABHS, and physicians continue to select unnecessarily broad-spectrum antibiotics. Unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions are not benign: they increase the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, expose patients to adverse drug events, and increase costs. Perhaps unique among upper respiratory tract infections, clinicians have good, objective criteria in the form of GABHS testing to guide the antibiotic treatment of children with sore throat. Limiting antibiotic prescribing to children with a positive GABHS test result is a feasible goal for primary care physicians and an important step toward judicious use of antibiotics overall,” the authors write.
Link: News
EFFORTS to tackle the MRSA superbug at Leeds hospitals are being hampered by a failure to recruit a pharmaceutical specialist. Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust has been unable to recruit an antibiotics pharmacist for two years, leaving it without an individual whose sole task would be to ensure the right type and quantity of antibiotics were more appropriately prescribed. Experts believe one of the main reasons behind the rise of superbugs such as MRSA is the overuse of antibiotics, both in human and veterinary medicine. Doctors have been told to cut antibiotic prescribing.
Link: GAARD.pdf (application/pdf Object).
A deeply disturbing report from a medical group commited to the prudent use of antibiotics. It will be of particular intrest to medical proffesionals. It's not easy or comforting reading as it focuses on growing drug resistance around the world.
Link: Attack of the Superbug.
A report this week indicated that hospital-acquired infection rates have worsened in the United States during the last several years, including antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections. Along with a warning from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that more than 70 percent of the bacteria that cause infections are resistant to at least one antibiotic used to treat them, a USC pharmacist advises being more selective in using these drugs.
Link: CDR Weekly: Diary.
Antibiotic over use is a key factor in the growth of MRSA and other hospital infections. Hence the importance of the conference below
The Specialist Advisory Committee on Antimicrobial Resistance (SACAR) On Tuesday 12 July 2005, a conference to promote the rational use of antimicrobials in acute hospitals organised by the National Prescribing Centre and supported by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain will take place. The conference The Specialist Advisory Committee on Antimicrobial Resistance (SACAR) is designed for clinical pharmacists who run the antimicrobial programme within Acute Trusts and their microbiologist colleagues. Four important themes will be addressed to include, guidelines, education, teamwork and monitoring. Participants are invited to present any details of ongoing or completed work as posters. For further information at this eventcontact the event team on te;: 0151 794 8587, or register now for this FREE event online at:
or
.
Link: FT.com
MRSA, the hospital "superbug" that has grabbed headlines in the UK, is an infection that resists most antibiotics. Prescriptions for antibiotics tell the patient to complete the course. You will feel better when most of the organisms causing infection have been killed. But those organisms that remain are, necessarily, more than averagely virulent and more than averagely drug resistant. If they are allowed to survive, they multiply, and this is how superbugs develop. The main benefit from completing a course of antibiotics is not to the patient, but to the invalid, the old and the very young, who are vulnerable to drug-resistant infection. The patient information leaflet that came with the antibiotic I took recently does not explain this. It warns that if you do not complete the course your illness might recur. This is true, but not the main issue. The manufacturer appears to believe that an appeal to self-interest will be more persuasive than an appeal to public spirit. My own reaction was the opposite. I used to stop the tablets as soon as I had recovered. Now I know the rationale, I take them conscientiously.
Link: Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.
Objectives: This study investigated the impact of a combined intervention strategy to improve antimicrobial prescribing at University Hospital Groningen. For the intervention, the antimicrobial treatment guidelines were updated and disseminated in paperback and electronic format. The credibility of the guidelines was improved by consultation with users. In a second phase, academic detailing (AD) was used to improve specific areas of low compliance with the guidelines.
Conclusions: Updating the guidelines in close collaboration with the specialists involved followed by active dissemination proved to be an efficient way to improve compliance with guideline recommendations. An 86% compliance level was achieved in this study without compulsory measures. A ceiling effect may have limited the added value of AD.
Link: HighWire Press -- Medline Abstract.
There is accumulating evidence to support the role of specific antibiotic classes as risk factors for selecting meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Crucially, however, controlled studies of antimicrobial prescribing interventions are lacking. The evidence for the association between antimicrobial prescribing and expansion of MRSA is reviewed here.
Link: Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.
Evaluation of the impact of the implementation of practice guidelines, with or without their reinforcement by a pharmacist, on the intra-hospital use of antibiotics. Materials and methods: The duration of antibiotic treatment, their cost, and the length of patient stay were compared in three secondary-care hospitals, before and after interventions that were designed to promote rational antibiotic use. After randomization, hospital A received no intervention (control), local practice guidelines were implemented in hospital B (low grade intervention), and these guidelines were reinforced by a clinical pharmacist in hospital C (high grade intervention). Adherence to the guidelines was measured in hospitals B and C. Multivariable statistical analyses were carried out to adjust for confounding factors. Results: None of the outcomes measured in the 1200 included patients decreased between the two study periods in any hospital. Hospital A was significantly and independently associated with an increase in the duration of antibiotic treatments, the cost of antibiotics (acquisition and global costs), and the length of stay. Although these differences were not statistically significant, increases in hospital B were higher than in hospital C. Adherence to guidelines was significantly higher in hospital C. Conclusions: Even though interdisciplinary interventions aiming at rationalizing antibiotic use could not diminish the duration of treatments, their costs or the length of stay, they proved useful to control the progression of these parameters.
Link: SocietyGuardian.co.uk
Researchers today warned that over-use of antibiotics is boosting rates of infection by drug resistant bugs in southern and eastern Europe. The results of their study suggest that the time has come to consider whether it is ethical to promote antibiotics in cases where they are unnecessary, they said. Professor Herman Goossens, from the University of Antwerp in Belgium, who led the research, said: "In view of the emergency of bacterial resistance and the decline in the rate of development of novel antibiotics, effective professional and public strategies to encourage appropriate prescribing of antibiotics should be studied and implemented. "If not, we will lose the miracle drugs of the 20th century." His warning about antibiotic resistance was based on the results of the research which compared antibiotic use and resistance rates in 26 European countries from 1997 to 2003. The researchers found that the willingness of family doctors to prescribe antibiotics varied greatly across the continent with the highest rate reported in France while the Netherlands had the lowest prescribing rate.
Link: Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.
This review discusses the role of microbes in chronic wounds from a clinical perspective with particular focus on the occurrence of bacteria and their impact on such wounds. The evidence and role of antibiotics in the treatment of such wounds are outlined and current practice of antibiotic usage for chronic wounds in the primary care setting described. The implications of antibiotic usage with regard to antibiotic resistance are also considered.
Link: HighWire Press -- Medline Abstract.
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Most reports of nosocomial infection (NI) prevalence have come from developed countries with established infection control programs. In developing countries, infection control is often not as well established due to lack of staff and resources. We examined the rate of NI in our institution. METHODS: A point-prevalence study of NI and antibiotic prescribing was conducted. On July 16 and 17, 2001, all inpatients were surveyed for NI, risk factors, pathogens isolated, and antibiotics prescribed and their indication. NIs were diagnosed according to CDC criteria. Cost of antibiotic acquisition was calculated by treatment indication. SETTING: Tertiary-care referral center in Malaysia. PATIENTS: All inpatients during the time of the study. RESULTS: Five hundred thirty-eight patients were surveyed. Seventy-five had 103 NIs for a prevalence of 13.9%. The most common NIs were urinary tract infections (12.2%), pneumonia (21.4%), laboratory-confirmed bloodstream infections (12.2%), deep surgical wound infections (11.2%), and clinical sepsis (22.4%). Pseudomonas aeruginosa, MRSA, and MSSA were the most common pathogens. Two hundred thirty-seven patients were taking 347 courses of antibiotics, for an overall prevalence of antibiotic use of 44%. NI treatment accounted for 36% of antibiotic courses prescribed but 47% of antibiotic cost. Cost of antibiotic acquisition for NI treatment was estimated to be approximately 2 million per year (Malaysian dollars). CONCLUSION: Whereas the rate of NI is relatively high at our center compared with rates from previous reports, antibiotic use is among the highest reported in any study of this kind. Further research into this high rate of antibiotic use is urgently required.
Link: HighWire Press -- Medline Abstract.
We undertook an observational pre and post-intervention study to assess whether a comprehensive antimicrobial management program developed by the new ICT installed 2002 in Akita University Hospital could reduce the use of antibiotics. Annual total amounts of antibiotics and anti-MRSA antibiotics, and the number of patients undergoing long-term treatment with antibiotics, fell dramatically. This ICT approach thus reduced antibiotic costs, contributed to infection control, and improved the quality of antibiotic prescription.
Link: Arch Surg
Overall, the use of antibiotics in the treatment of patients with severe acute pancreatitis has increased owing to the use of antibiotic prophylaxis. Hypothesis The incidence of antibiotic-resistant (AB-R) bacteria in infected pancreatitis is related to prolonged antibiotic treatment and may affect outcome. Design Case series. Setting Fifty-six–bed intensive care unit of a tertiary care center. Patients Forty-six consecutive patients with infected pancreatic necrosis. Main Outcome Measures Occurrence rate of AB-R organisms in pancreatic infection, overall duration of antibiotic treatment prior to infection, and mortality, defined as inhospital mortality. Results Infection with AB-R microorganisms was found in 24 (52%) of 46 patients. Primary infection was present in 7 patients; in 21 patients, nosocomial surinfection with AB-R organisms occurred. Patients with AB-R infections were treated with antibiotics for a longer period (24 vs 15 days, P<.05), while disease severity and the incidence of organ failure were not statistically significantly different. The intensive care unit stay was significantly longer in patients with AB-R infections (23 vs 31 days, P = .02). Mortality was not statistically significantly different in patients with AB-R infections (37% vs 28%, P = .23). Conclusions The occurrence rate of infections with AB-R organisms in our patients with severe acute pancreatitis was high and was associated with a longer intensive care unit stay, but no increased mortality could be demonstrated. The duration of antibiotic treatment was increased in patients in whom AB-R infections developed.
Link: Journal of Medical Microbiology.
Antibiotic-associated diarrhoea (AAD) represents a clinical entity leading to prolonged hospital stays and diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, and results in additional costs. Toxin production was determined in isolated S. aureus strains. In vitro susceptibility of S. aureus for oxacillin and of C. difficile for vancomycin, metronidazole, linezolid, fusidic acid and tetracycline was tested. The role of toxin-producing S. aureus in cases of AAD needs further investigation.
Link: Sunderland Today
A health crisis is looming because of the overuse of antibiotics, making even minor infections difficult to treat outside of hospital. And trust bosses in Sunderland today warned that the scale of the problem now posed a "major public health challenge". More than 200,000 prescriptions, for about five million antibiotic capsules and tablets, are issued in Sunderland each year, costing more than �800,000. Now GPs and prescribing advisers are so concerned that a special campaign has been launched to advise patients of the hidden dangers of overuse of antibiotics. Phil Young, prescribing adviser for Sunderland Teaching Primary Care Trust (TPCT), said: "If we continue to use antibiotics inappropriately, some illnesses will become increasingly difficult to treat. "Unnecessary use of antibiotics causes some bacteria to become resistant to the antibiotic. "These resistant bacteria are stronger and harder to kill. They may remain in the body longer and can cause severe illnesses that may require stronger treatment and even a stay in hospital." As evidence of the crisis, experts have pointed to the MRSA superbug now rife in hospitals and care homes.
Link: This is Blackburn.
A CARTOON character is leading the fight against the deadly superbug MRSA in East Lancashire. For colourful character "Auntie Biotic" is fronting a pro-active campaign to help cut down on the use of antibiotics by the public. The initiative has been set up by the area's health chiefs to tell people that overuse of antibiotics is aiding the growing resistance of some bacteria - and hindering the battle to beat the effects of MRSA in hospitals. The main theme spells out that "antibiotics do NOT kill viruses" and warns people against unnecessary usage of antibiotics.
Link: Scotsman.com
The medicines watchdog today said it would push ahead with plans to make antibiotics available over-the-counter despite fears it may strengthen drug-resistance. The Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) launched a consultation on whether the antibiotic eye drop chloramphenicol should be made available without a prescription from pharmacies. At the moment patients can only access the drugs on prescription. But some experts have claimed that more widespread public use of the antibiotic will lessen its effectiveness. Chloramphenicol is also used in hospitals to treat life-threatening illnesses such as typhoid.
Link: ic Huddersfield
THE over-use of antibiotics has contributed to the build-up of drug-resistant infections such as MRSA in hospitals, a Mirfield chemist claims.
And the problem is also starting to appear in the community, with drug-resistant infections on the increase.
Mrs Gill Hawksworth, of the Old Bank Chemist, and a representative of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, said: "With winter fast approaching, the public will be looking for effective treatments for a variety of ailments including colds and flu.
"Many people mistakenly believe that antibiotics can treat flu viruses and colds when they cannot.
RedNova News
A bacterium that is becoming more resistant to first-line antibiotics is causing record numbers of skin infections in otherwise healthy children, according to a new study. The bacterium, called methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), is also emerging as a cause of pneumonia, which can be fatal. And while MRSA has been considered an uncommon cause of necrotizing fasciitis -- a rare bacterial infection, sometimes called "flesh-eating bacteria" -- another report documents 14 such cases in Los Angeles. MRSA "has been a concern for a couple of decades," said Dr. Kevin Purcell, principal investigator of the first study and a health-care consultant for Driscoll Children's Hospital in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Serious About News
IRRESPONSIBLE use of antibiotics are much to blame for the spread of MRSA. That's the warning from Phyllis Starkey following a debate in the House of Commons on the deadly superbug. Milton Keynes South-West Labour MP Dr Starkey told the House last week: "There's irresponsible practice in antibiotic use. "Antibiotics have been doled out by GPs, possibly due to untoward pressure from patients, to treat conditions where patients should've been told to go home because the infection would clear up. "Members of the public also use antibiotics irresponsibly when they do not finish the full course."
In 2001, Eli Lilly and Bristol-Myers Squibb stopped work on developing new antimicrobial drugs. Other major drug companies are reported to be about to do likewise. A major conference of microbiologists, doctors and pharmacists held in Chicago in September 2003 hosted a session devoted to discussing why the major drug companies are withdrawing from antibiotics and antimicrobial research. The session was titled “Why Is Big Pharma Getting Out of Anti-infective Drug Discovery?”
Dr. Henry Masur, one of the session speakers, left no doubt as to the impact of drug makers’ bottom-line on research decisions that will ultimately affect the lives of masses of people: “The cost of drug development is astronomical, the market is not nearly as enticing as markets that involve drugs that must be taken for a lifetime rather than days or weeks, and there is considerable pressure to reduce prices.”
Part of a much longer and well researched article. Click link above for more
Infectious Disease News
“We infectious disease physicians on the front line of patient care see patients who face lengthy hospitalizations, painful courses of treatment, even death, with these multiply resistant bacterial infections,” said Joseph R. Dalovisio, MD, president of the IDSA and head of infectious diseases at the Ochsner Clinic Foundation in New Orleans. “We’re concerned that the future looks bleak here … These antibacterial antibiotics are vital tools that I need to take care of my patients. Please understand that this is an imminent public health crisis.” While the number of drug-resistant infections continues to rise, the number of new antibiotics in the pipeline is declining. Recent data show that there are only five new antibiotics under development out of more than 506 drugs in the pipeline. Since 1998, only 10 new antibiotics, only two of which were novel, have been approved, according to the IDSA report. In 2002, 89 new medicines emerged on the market, although none were antibiotics.
Boston.com
But the nation's pharmaceutical industry, without strong market incentives, has slowed development of new antibiotics to a trickle. Instead, lured by bigger profits elsewhere, drug companies are pursuing pills to treat chronic conditions like high cholesterol and ''lifestyle" issues like impotence and baldness, according to a report released yesterday by the Infectious Disease Society of America. ''This is a public health crisis that has the potential to touch us all," Dr. Joseph R. Dalovisio, president of the society and head of infectious diseases at the Oschsner Clinic Foundation in New Orleans, said in prepared remarks delivered in Washington yesterday. Some big companies like Pfizer Inc. and AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP say they are investing tens of millions of dollars every year into research programs for new antibiotics, but they have few drugs in clinical trials and whatever they do discover won't be available for years. The doctors' group boiled it all down to an alarming study title: ''Bad Bug, No Drugs."
Reuters.com
Drug companies are not developing new antibiotics fast enough to fight emerging, resistant "superbugs" and the government needs to give them tax breaks or other incentives to do it, infectious disease experts said on Wednesday. They support calls from the pharmaceutical industry to relax requirements for testing potential new antibiotics, offer tax breaks to developers and to extend patent protection. Otherwise, the Infectious Diseases Society of America says, evolving new bacteria will have nothing to stop them.
Arkansas Foundation
Overuse of these medications fosters the creation of resistant bacteria that can limit future use of new medications and bring about dilemmas in effective treatment of relatively common ambulatory and hospital infections. Recently, many professional societies and the CDC have turned their focus on encouraging a reduction in the use of antibiotics for simple infections that are frequently viral, and promoting the use of more common, older medications to keep the newer antibiotics reserved for more serious infections.
Scotsman.com News - Latest News - Antibiotics Losing Out in the War on MRSA
Laboratory reports of blood poisoning caused by MRSA also increased from 210 in 1993 to 5,309 in 2002. The spectre of a bug resistant to all antibiotics could now be approaching, some experts believe. New antibiotics are being developed all the time but experts fear it is only a matter of time before the bugs blunt every antibiotic weapon man has. Humans have only had the upper hand over bacteria for a handful of decades. Some medical experts think it may take a breakthrough akin to the discovery of penicillin before humans can regain the upper hand over the superbugs.
End looms for antibiotics era
This is a must read. It looks at how Roche have stopped research into antibiotics and refers to the rise of community acquired MRSA
A short introduction from Dave Roberts
This 12 minute introduction will help you grasp the key facts and the key issues surrounding drug resistant staph aureus (mersa, mursa)
