The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : How overuse of antibiotics makes them anti-curative

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Tuesday, Aug 05, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

How overuse of antibiotics makes them anti-curative

R. Sujatha

Formation of infection control committees in hospitals suggested

— Photo: R. RAGU

WORLD OF ANTIBIOTICS: Are the pills and injections the permanent solution to various ailments?

CHENNAI: Since the invention of penicillin in the 1940s, there has been a tremendous increase in the use of antibiotics. Today, more pharmacy shops stock expensive antibiotics, both pills and injections, because they sell more, shop assistants say.

But doctors call this a dangerous trend as more and more people are developing resistance to commonly-used antibiotics. The reason for resistance lies in the indiscriminate use of antibiotics.

According to microbiologists and surgeons, there are very few antibiotics that have not been used on patients in India yet. Surgeons are often faced with a challenge when they find their patients turning resistant to antibiotics given to control common infections such as sepsis and pneumonia.

“We are on the verge of an antibiotic crisis. Now we have come a full circle from the time penicillin was introduced. Misuse of drugs and lack of new concepts with pharmaceutical companies is worrying,” says Rosie Vanilla, microbiologist at Government Stanley Hospital.

Doctors blame the trend of prescribing higher dose of antibiotics on self-medication. A medicine prescribed for a person’s condition may not work for another person’s or for the same person the second time, they point out.

Such misuse leaves doctors with no choice but to prescribe higher doses. The result: the disease becomes more virulent and the healing process is also delayed. When mothers are on high doses of antibiotics, they pass on the resistance to their children too, doctors point out.

During a recent lecture in the city, nephrologist M.K. Mani explained how the tendency to use antibiotics reduces the effectiveness of the drug: “The usual areas of misuse are common cold, sore throat and diarrhoea. The tendency is to use the latest antibiotic instead of the oldest and the cheapest and use a drug because it worked earlier in the same patient. Whenever you use antibiotics you destroy bacteria in your body. The more you use antibiotics, the less effective it becomes.”

Gastroenterologist R. Surendran recalls the case of a patient in his care at the Government Stanley Medical College who developed resistance to several antibiotics given to control infection post surgery. The hospital had to make a special request to the Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation to procure a particular expensive antibiotic to treat the condition.

Dr. Surendran calls for establishing infection control committees in hospitals on the lines of those in developed countries. The committee would analyse the administering of antibiotics and prevent misuse, he says.

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