Monday 12 December 2022

What happened about concern for antibiotic resistance?

 Health Secretary Steve Barclay has reacted in panic to the rise in streptococcal infections by making it easy to acquire penicillin. After years of endeavouring with some success to stop the non-therapeutic use of the drug in agriculture, Barclay is undoing all the good work by enabling the sale of penicillin tablets over the counter. The official advice by the NHS remains the same: 

The overuse of antibiotics in recent years means they're becoming less effective and has led to the emergence of "superbugs"...The biggest worry is that new strains of bacteria may emerge that cannot be treated by any existing antibiotics.

Antibiotic administration should be under the direction of a qualified medical practitioner and only when needed. The best prophylactic is good personal hygiene, which seems to have dropped off since Covid-19 no longer hits the headlines.

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