We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
BRITISH SCIENTISTS HAVE suggested doing away with the “incorrect” advice to always finish a course of antibiotics, saying the approach was fuelling the spread of drug resistance.
Rather than stopping antibiotics too early, the cause of resistance was “unnecessary” drug use, a team wrote in The British Medical Journal (BMJ).
“We encourage policy makers, educators and doctors to stop advocating ‘complete the course’ when communicating with the public,” wrote the team, led by infectious diseases expert Martin Llewelyn of the Brighton and Sussex Medical School.
Further, they should publicly and actively state that this was not evidence-based and is incorrect.
The team said further research is needed to work out the best alternative guidelines, but “patients might be best advised to stop treatment when they feel better”.
The UN’s World Health Organization says that if treatment is stopped early, there is a risk that antibiotics would not have killed all the disease-causing bacteria, which can mutate and become resistant to the treatment.
It advises patients to “take the full prescription” given by their doctor.
The US Food and Drug Administration, too, advises taking “the full course of the drug”.
But the new paper, which analysed established links between treatment duration and effectiveness, and drug resistance, said there was no evidence for the idea that shorter treatment is inferior, or will trigger antibiotic resistance.
“When a patient takes antibiotics for any reason, antibiotic sensitive species and strains among (microorganisms) on their skin or gut or in the environment are replaced by resistant species and strains ready to cause infection in the future,” the team explained.
The longer the antibiotic exposure, the bigger the foothold resistant species will gain. These resistant strains can be transmitted directly between people who have no symptoms of illness.
Yet the idea of completing an antibiotics course is “deeply embedded” in both doctors and patients, said the team.
Experts not involved in the analysis welcomed its conclusions.
Prescriptions ‘need to change’
In comments via the Science Media Centre in London, Peter Openshaw, president of the British Society for Immunology, agreed that shortening antibiotics courses may help tackle the resistance problem.
“It could be that antibiotics should be used only to reduce the bacterial burden to a level that can be coped with by the person’s own immune system,” he said.
There are, however, cases which call for extended treatment courses – when a patient has a compromised immune system, for example, or if the bacteria is a slow-growing kind or can lie dormant before striking, such as tuberculosis.
“It is very clear that prescribing practices do need to change,” added Mark Woolhouse, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh.
Current volumes of antibiotic usage are too high to be sustainable.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Every doctor I ever had – told me that it was important to complete the full course.
@Fank Pulman: and dentist…
@Fank Pulman: Ah here doctors, make up yer minds.
@Fank Pulman: Doctors also used to prescribe cigarettes to regain your strong . The advice changes in accordance with the best latest information, as it should.
@Neal Ireland Hello.: *strength
I never finish the course of antibiotics always stopped after maybe 3 days when im feeling better, have never had any bad effects from doing so either, Just saying!
@Colette Kearns: Well Colette please explain how you grew that third arm?
@Gary: Colete hasn’t grown a third arm , her fourth one fell off : )
@Garry , what are you on about??
@Colette Kearns: Seems it was actually the sense of humour that fell off!
@Colette Kearns:
@Rory Stafford:
I would certainly not take antibiotics and don’t believe I ever have healthy body Will not allow bacteria to multiply as for virus it’s no good anyway
If my children were sick a doctor would certainly have to put forward a very good verified reason for there use The inappropriate use of antibiotics is widespread and wrong
@Colette Kearns: Whoever these British clowns are they should be ignored: Stopping antibiotics when “you feel better” rather than when the course ends is dangerous for two reasons, firstly the not all of the bacteria are gone and if they multiple and attack your system again they will have built up a resistance to the antibiotics. And secondly this is where Superbugs, that antibiotics are ineffective on, come from.
This is based on one paper. One. Against all of the research prior that indicates this is a bad idea. People still routinely don’t finish the course — maybe wait to see that this is confirmed before pushing more people to do that.
This is strange because drug resistant TB has said to be a direct result of people not completing their medication. They actually have people calling around making sure people don’t stop medication when they feel better.
This has to be fake news! Drug companies and their prescribing agents have no interest in shifting shed loads of tablets just for profit!
They are looking after our health and have no interest in financial rewards or holidays for prescribing a particular anti-biotic.
Just saying like.
Anyone seen Bob Geldoff anywhere? Something bad is going to happen if he dosent appear in public soon!
Treat every day like it’s your last , one day you’ll be right .
Only the other day a scientific study claimed , alcohol improves memory .
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/07/24/alcohol-improves-memory-scientists-say-study-finds-drinking/
The humanity
Diseases resistant to drugs
Go
Unleavened bread
Locusts and honey if you can
This is 70 year old science that was never updated.
This error posting comment message is really annoying!
@journal.ie
If you write a comment that goes over the 800 characters, but then edit it to under 800 it still give the error posting comment message, even if you copy the text and try to post it as a new comment, is this a glitch of the text limit?
Can’t you increase the limit to a number, so actual comments can be made, instead of quasi tweets!
Yes, I realise my “@journal.ie” is a quasi tweet!
:-)
have your say