“The most common conditions patients reported self-treating with antibiotics were sore throat, runny nose, or cough — conditions that typically would get better without any antibiotic treatment,” Larisa Grigoryan, MD, PhD, author of the study and professor with the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, said in a statement.
Nearly 75 percent of the antibiotics patients stored were leftover from previous prescriptions. One motivation for holding on to these drugs may have been to save on copays for future visits, but their inappropriate use, including not finishing a recommended course of treatment and beginning another without a clinician’s recommendation, can be dangerous for individual and public health, according to the authors. Oftentimes individuals who self-diagnose and take antibiotics bought over the counter or leftover medications from a previous prescription are fighting a virus, which is not susceptible to antibiotics.
“[E]ven if the cause is bacterial, lay people don’t know which antibiotics cover which pathogens and for how long should they use them,” Dr. Grigoryan said.
The misuse of these drugs plays a major role in contributing to antibiotic resistance, a phenomenon in which bacteria become acclimated to low-level antibiotic exposure, rendering the drugs ineffective. The World Health Organization estimates these types of infections kill tens of thousands of people per year, and warns that without coordinated and quick action, the world will enter an era in which antibiotics are ineffective even for the most common infections.
More articles on antibiotic resistance:
Study finds evidence of antibiotic resistance in 1,000-year-old mummies
Normally harmful cells prove helpful in fighting C. diff, shed light on antibiotic use for HAIs
It may be safe for physicians to prescribe fewer antibiotics, researchers say
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