The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) organised a public lecture — ‘Use Antibiotics with Caution’ — on the occasion of World Antibiotic Awareness Week.
Rise in mortality rate
Dr. Randeep Guleria, director of AIIMS, emphasised the impact of gross misuse of antibiotics by doctors and the public alike. He said, “With no prescriptions given by the doctors, people tend to pop antibiotics to even deal with common problems like cold, influenza, diarrhea, and throat infections. This leads to antibiotic resistance.”
“Antibiotics are also used in poultry and farming. This also leads to entry of harmful antibiotics to the body, making humans resistant to them and increasing the mortality rate,” he added.
Rita Sood, HOD, Department of Medicines, said: “If one person gets afflicted by a resistant strain of bacteria, the chances of it spreading are very high. Antibiotics are a shared resource and therefore care should be taken to prevent overuse.”
The speakers suggested regulatory and policy decisions to control the rise in antibiotic resistance.
