MOSCOW, August 6 (RIA Novosti) - British General Practitioners (GPs) prescribe the antibiotics for patients with minor illnesses, the Guardian reported, referring to a new research conducted by Public Health England (PHE) and University College London (UCL).
"Although it would be inappropriate to say that all cases of coughs and colds or sore throats did not need antibiotics, our study strongly suggests that there is a need to make improvements in antibiotic prescribing,” the Guardian quoted lead author and a consultant epidemiologist at PHE Professor Jeremy Hawker as saying.
According to the study, 51 percent of UK patients were given antibiotics for coughs and colds in 2011, compared with 36 percent in 1999
Overuse of antibiotics has a profound effect on their efficiency. Human organisms start fighting back, so the drugs become ineffective and new, drug-resistant illnesses emerge.
Although the blame for unnecessary antibiotics prescription clearly lies with the British GPs, they prefer to blame the patients. Medics argue that patients demand antibiotics in order to treat their illnesses fast, rarely worrying about the adverse effects this might have.
Back in 1998, British government issued guidance warning GPs not to prescribe antibiotics for simple coughs and colds.
In July, British Prime Minister David Cameron said that resistance to antibiotics was a real and worrying threat and warned that drug-immune bacteria could send medicine “back to the dark ages.”
Earlier, England's chief medical officer Professor Dame Sally Davies aslo stated that resistance to drugs was one of the greatest threats to modern health and highlighted that antibiotics should be used to treat severe infections only.
