While world is observing Antibiotic Awareness Week (November 12- 18), experts are concerned that antibiotic resistance is one of the fastest growing threat globally leading to once easy-to-treat infections' management challenging.
Dr Tahreem Ansari, Consultant Diseases at Indus Hospital said that antibiotic resistance is the ability of bacteria to defeat the drugs designed to kill them making them super-bugs. Inability of antibiotics to kill these bugs may make it difficult to treat infections.
She mentioned that as per WHO estimates, globally, 700,000 deaths every year could be attributed to antimicrobial or antibiotic resistance and is expected to cause 10 million deaths in the next 35 years.
"Failure of antibiotics to work has economical, physical and psychological impacts. The longer lasting illnesses require frequent doctor visits, protracted hospital stays and treatment with expensive antibiotics," she said, adding that in some cases, the antibiotic-resistant infections can lead to organ failure or even death.
Professor Dr Khalid Hussain Mahida of Department of ENT and Head and Neck Surgery at Ziauddin University and Hospital said that antibiotics are not effective against viral infections such as common cold, flu, most sore throats, bronchitis, and many sinus and ear infections.
"Widespread use of antibiotics for these illnesses is an example of how overuse of antibiotics can promote the spread of antibiotic resistance." He said, adding that smart use of antibiotics is the key to controlling the spread of resistance.
He said that in Pakistan, rate of unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions for self-limiting Upper Respiratory Tract infections is 88.9 percent. He stressed that people should only use antibiotics when prescribed by a certified health professional and always take the full prescription, even if you feel better because not completing the prescribed dosage would help bacteria to become antibiotic resistant.