Antibiotic use sparks fears of 'superbug'

30th June 2007

By JOEL FORD

The use of antibiotics in the Western Bay has risen over the past two years - prompting a warning that it could lead to the creation of "superbugs".

Pharmac - the government drug-funding agency, has revealed figures that show more people are taking antibiotics and warns the trend must change for the good of public health.

Figures from Pharmac show 295 prescriptions for the antibiotic amoxycillin clavulanate (also known as Augmentin) were given out for every 1000 people in the Bay of Plenty region in 2006.

This is compared with 273 in 2005 and 254 in 2004.

While it says antibiotics are effective against bacteria, they are not effective against viruses. Pharmac has warned overuse of antibiotics can cause bacteria to become resistant to particular treatments and lead to the creation of "superbugs".

Pharmac medical director Dr Peter Moodie said while nationally people's attitudes towards antibiotics are showing a change for the better, there was room for improvement.

Tauranga GP John Gemming, who is also chairman of the Western Bay primary health organisation (PHO), said Pharmac's push to lower the use of antibiotics was being done with an initiative by GPs to look closely at how antibiotics were being described.

He said it was important to inform the public what antibiotics were used for but that it was unclear why there had been a recent rise in their use.

"In general terms doctors are looking to be very rational with their prescribing and only prescribe antibiotics where it has clearly been shown to be useful and that goes along with the Pharmac campaign," he said.

But the Bay's medical officer of health, Dr Phil Shoemack, said while it was important antibiotics were not over-prescribed it was not always easy for doctors to make a call on when antibiotics should be used.

He did not know why antibiotic use had increased in the Bay.

"The difficulty for a GP is that they won't know then and there whether a person's illness is caused by a virus or a bacteria. But that's nothing new and doesn't explain why there is an increase in use," he said.

Dr Shoemack said Augmentin was one of the most commonly prescribed antibiotics because of its effectiveness against a range of bacterial infections.

He pointed to the superbug MRSA (methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus), a skin bacteria sometimes found in hospitals that can potentially cause life-threatening infections, as an example of a "super bug" that has become resistant to treatment due to overuse of antibiotics.

MRSA will respond to certain antibiotics but there have been instances where certain strains have become resistant to previously effective treatments.

Dr Shoemack said the problems created by the overuse of antibiotics was likely to create difficulties in the long term.

"The danger is not to the patient but to the population because certain antibiotics will become less useful," he said.