Kochi: Antibiotic resistance, a global public health threat, is a big challenge in the country and especially in Kerala where the practice of buying over the counter antibiotics is high.
Lack of restrictions on access to antibiotics and its irrational use, non-standardized microbiology laboratories and use of antibiotics in animal husbandry and fisheries are leading to widespread antibiotic resistance, according to medical experts.
Experts in antimicrobial resistance (AMR) who are here to participate in the two-day ‘International Conference on Antibiotic Stewards-hip and Infectious Dise-ases,’ to be held at Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences on Saturday and Sunday observed that the situation can become alarming considering that the crude infectious disease-related mortality rate in India -416.75 per 100,000 persons.
They highlighted the importance of ‘Antibiotic Stewardship,’ which means a combination of practices to rationalize antibiotic use through the right dose, drug, duration, frequency and right indication.
Dr. Sanjeev Singh, medical superintendent, AIMS said that a recent study in Kerala has found that 89 per cent of doctors prescribe antibiotics on daily basis. Hence, when a patient suffers from, symptoms of upper-respiratory infection, diarrhea or vomiting – which usually indicate a disease that is viral in nature and therefore should not be treated with antibiotics – the patient gets prescribed a course of antibiotics.
Dr. Arjun Srinivasan, associate Director, Heal-th-care Associated Infecti-on Prevention Programs, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, US Department of Health observed that the loss of effective antibiotic therapy threatens to make once-treatable infections deadly again and jeopardize the delivery of modern medicine.
The international conference is being attended by 10 prominent international speakers from the UK, the US and South Africa.
