Over the 6 years from 2006 to 2012, 55 percent of the patients has received at least one dose of antibiotic during their hospital stay, irrespective of the need, mentioned researchers from US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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US hospitals continue to use powerful antibiotics to fight infections when less-effective antibiotics fail–a “worrisome” development as bacteria grow increasingly immune to treatment, according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
In what appears to be the first national, multiyear estimate of US hospital antibiotic use, experts examined prescribing patterns between 2006 and 2012.
Although the use of antibiotics remained about the same during the study period, a significant increase was seen in the use of newer antibiotics, Baggs said. “Because inappropriate antibiotic use increases the risk of antibiotic resistance and other adverse patient outcomes, continued monitoring of antibiotic use is critical to future improvements in patient safety”.
“We can’t keep going on like this if we are going to expect people to have the same outcomes 20 years from now”, Cohen said.
The report was published online September 19 in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.
“This is about the fact that doctors are human – doctors think patients want antibiotics”, Mehrotra said.
On Sept. 21 the United Nations General Assembly will meet at its headquarters in New York City to discuss “Antimicrobial Resistance” with input coming from all areas, to improve awareness of the issue. They hope this will help them better understand the reasons for the high prescription rates and give them a way to cut down the numbers. Companies that raise livestock routinely prescribe antibiotics to try to stave off costly infections in herds and flocks.
“Because of how antibiotics around the world both in developed and developing countries are being used, they are not as effective as they were in the past”, he said.
One of the underlying issues raised by the study is how much of the antibiotic prescribing observed in hospitals is necessary.
An estimated 23,000 people die each year as a result of being infected with an antibiotic-resistant organism, according to the CDC, of which an estimate two million people are infected.
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Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the USA facilities for disorder manipulate and Prevention, stated the trouble may additionally affect docs’ willingness to do chemotherapy, organ transplants, or different treatments that might put a affected person prone to uncontrollable infections. The class of drugs most closely associated with growing antibiotic resistance also increased during that time.
