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Indianans Encouraged to "Get Smart About Antibiotics"

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Monday, November 18, 2013   

INDIANAPOLIS - Antibiotics save lives, but medical experts say their overuse has led to the development of resistant bacteria, making antibiotics ineffective in treating certain conditions. According to Indiana State Health Commissioner Dr. William VanNess, we're paying the price for medical practices of long ago, when physicians were instructed to prescribe antibiotics for any infection, including viruses.

"People would be given an antibiotic and they'd only take it for a few days because the virus would get better on its own," he said. "And then they'd be left with just a few days of treatment with an antibiotic, which would lead to resistant bacteria building up in the body, and now we're seeing more and more bacteria that are resistant to antibiotic."

Health Leaders are using this week's "Get Smart About Antibiotics Week" to educate patients and doctors about appropriate antibiotic use. VanNess said preventing infection is also important, and includes simple steps such as regular hand washing. According to the Centers for Disease Control, at least 23,000 Americans die each year from antibiotic-resistant infections.

VanNess said he believes most doctors understand how critical it is to use antibiotics correctly, but many patients aren't getting the message. He recalled situations during his years in family practice when he would not prescribe an antibiotic to patients suffering from common colds.

"They'd say 'Well, I'm going to go to Dr. X or Dr. Y, 'cause I know they'll give me an antibiotic for this,'" as he described the results of turning down such requests. "Often they would, so that's why it's important to educate the patient and certainly continue with physician education to make sure we're using it appropriately."

An antibiotic-resistant infection can also be acquired from others, including health care professionals. VanNess said those situations tend to occur in people who are already debilitated in some way, or have weak immune systems.

"And they would get the infection while they were in the hospital and really prolong their hospital stay, and require the use of sometimes one or two or three very strong antibiotics to treat that bacteria that had build up resistance to the normal antibiotic."

Some experts also link resistance to antibiotics by eating meat from animals treated with antibiotics.

The CDC's efforts to address the problem include national tracking of antibiotic-resistant infections, the development of new antibiotics, tests to detect resistance, and better education for doctors, farmers and others to avoid antibiotic overuse.




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