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FIRST-GENERATION
UV ROOM CLEANING
20 minutes
*Terminal Decontamination of
Patient Rooms Using an Automated
Mobile UV Light Unit, Infect Control
Hosp Epidemiol 2011;32(8):737-742
51-146.3 minutes,*
moving three to five times
It May be Safe for Physicians to Prescribe Fewer
Antibiotics, Researchers Say
By Max Green
R
ecent research has painted a gloomy portrait of the state of
antibiotics: Clinicians prescribe them too oen and patients oen
don't follow the course of treatment properly. ese two factors
have contributed to increasing rates of resistance in deadly bacteria,
but limiting the amount of antibiotics prescribed has raised concerns
about consequences for patients, such as bacterial complications and
spreading infections. But new research from the U.K. suggests, in some
instances, it might be fine to forego an antibiotic prescription.
In an analysis of patient records from more than 610 general practices
in the U.K., researchers found the practices with lower rates of antibiotic
prescription for respiratory tract infections did not have patients with
higher rates of serious bacterial complications, thought to arise when an
infection is not treated with antibiotics.
However, practices with lower prescription rates did have slightly
higher rates of pneumonia and peritonsillar abscess, both rare and
treatable with antibiotics.
"Overuse of antibiotics now may result in increasing infections by
resistant bacteria in the future," Martin Gulliford, PhD, lead author of
the study, said in a statement. "Current treatment recommendations are
to avoid antibiotics for self-limiting respiratory infections. Our results
suggest that, if antibiotics are not taken, this should carry no increased
risk of more serious complications."
The researchers estimated that if a practice seeing 7,000 patients per
year reduced the amount of antibiotics it prescribed by 10 percent,
there could be a single extra case of pneumonia each year. Reducing
antibiotic prescriptions by a significant amount would also reduce
the side effects about 10 percent of people who take them develop,
the authors conclude. n
