IT’S ESTIMATED THAT AS MANY AS ONE IN THREE ANTIBIOTIC TREATMENTS MAY BE PRESCRIBED UNNECESSARILY
Is it safe to use expired antibiotics? With the rising cost of prescription drugs, some people may be tempted to turn to expired antibiotics lingering in the back of their medicine cabinets, rather than paying for a new or repeat prescription. However, antibiotic drugs should never be used past their individual expiration dates.
The key reasons for avoiding expired antibiotics: • Expired antibiotics are likely to have lost some of their potency, which means they’ll often be ineffective at killing off the bacteria responsible for an infection. As such, the patient will often take longer to recover and their symptoms may even worsen
• Using expired antibiotics can lead to future prescribed courses of the same drug becoming less effective, which can enable stronger, antibiotic-resistant bacteria to develop; potentially causing even more harm to the patient
Once the expiration date has passed, there is no guarantee that the antibiotic will still be effective –
or, indeed, safe. Expired medications should NEVER be used. Instead, the patient should consult their GP or pharmacist, who will be able to issue a repeat prescription or prescribe a new course of treatment.
If a patient is still in possession of antibiotics that have passed their expiration date, they should take them to their local pharmacist, who will dispose of them safely.
What does the future hold for antibiotics and AMR? As recently as 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that the acceleration of AMR would lead to a ‘post- antibiotic era’. That hasn’t come to pass just yet, but AMR across the globe - particularly in countries without standard treatment guidelines - is reaching dangerously high levels, which could have severe consequences.
That said, science is developing ways to reduce antimicrobial resistance. For instance, researchers from Imperial College London have
found a way to weaken antibiotic-resistant bacteria by inhibiting a protein essential to the creation of their resistance capabilities, which could prevent diseases by making bacteria vulnerable to treatment again.
This, at least, gives us a ray of hope in the fight against AMR, but it’s vitally important that we all do our part by using antibiotics responsibly.
WHO issues alarming list In October this year, the World Health Organisation (WHO) released the first-ever list of health-threatening fungi - a catalogue of the 19 fungi that represent the greatest threat to public health.
The WHO fungal priority pathogens list (FPPL) was the first global effort to systematically prioritise fungal pathogens, considering the unmet research and development (R&D) needs and the perceived public health importance.
‘Fungal pathogens,’ WHO said in their statement, ‘are a major threat to public health as they are becoming increasingly common and resistant to treatment with only four classes of antifungal medicines currently available, and few candidates in the clinical pipeline. Most fungal pathogens lack rapid and sensitive diagnostics and those that exist are not widely available or affordable globally.
‘Emerging evidence indicates that the incidence and geographic range of fungal diseases are both expanding worldwide due to global warming and the increase of international travel and trade. As the fungi that cause common infections (such as candida oral and vaginal thrush) become increasingly resistant to treatment, risks for the development of more invasive forms of infections in the general population are also growing.’
IT’S VITALLY IMPORTANT THAT WE ALL USE ANTIBIOTICS RESPONSIBLY
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