Overuse of antibiotics leads to spread of resistant bacteria
of ConsumerAffairsTheres an urgent need for more careful antibiotic management to protect older people living in residential aged care from the dangerous spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria or superbugs, researchers say.
A newstudypublished in the Journal of Infection, explores the link between the widespread use of antibiotics in residential aged care and the resulting antibiotic resistant bacteria in the gut that can be passed on to other residents.
Commonly used tablet antibiotics in the elderly increase many types of resistance bacteria carried in the gut and these so called superbugs can increase resistance to other important life-saving antibiotic drugs, says lead authorSophie Miller.
High rates of antibiotic prescriptions in aged care settings are likely to be contributing to the proliferation of these bugs, which can lead to longer hospital stays, higher medical costs and increased mortality.
This trend not only compromises the effectiveness of antibiotic treatment but also poses a significant risk of treatment failures in an already vulnerable community.
Threat to global health
TheWorld Health Organizationnames antibiotic resistance as one of the biggest threats to global health, food security, and development with a growing number of infections including pneumonia, tuberculosis, gonorrhoea and salmonellosis becoming harder to treat as antibiotics used to treat them become less effective.
Responding effectively to the global health threat of antibiotic resistance requires a detailed understanding of the influence and impact of antibiotic prescribing patterns, saidMiller.
The researchers analysed stool samples collected from 164 residents from five long-term aged care facilities in South Australia to learn more about the genes carried by their gut bacteria that lead to antibiotic resistance.
We discovered that an antibiotic commonly prescribed to aged care residents was strongly associated with an increase in resistance to other antibiotics the resident had not been prescribed, she says.
Alarmingly, research revealed nearly all participants carried these resistant genes without displaying any symptoms, raising significant concerns for this particularly vulnerable demographic.
Our findings suggest that even antibiotics that are not typically associated with major modifications in gut bacteria can significantly escalate the presence of resistance genes, says Miller.
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Posted: 2024-09-04 16:41:03
