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England's medics launch drive against overuse of antibiotics

Xinhua, January 15, 2016 Adjust font size:

Medics in Britain, led by England's chief medical officer, launched the Antibiotic Guardian campaign on Friday to warn of the dangers of human resistance to antibiotic medicines.

They highlight the grim fact that across the European Union in the past year there have been 400,000 reported cases, and 25,000 deaths, linked to antibiotic resistant infections.

Chief medical officer, professor Sally Davies warned that resistance to antibiotics was putting people's lives at risk in Britain.

In an urgent video appeal, produced by Public Health England (PHE), patients are warned that if antibiotics can no longer fight bacteria that cause infections, in the future this could mean routine operations such as knee surgery or caesarian sections could become deadly.

The hard-hitting video is designed to raise awareness of the threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and to offer advice on how everyone can play a part in tackling it.

A PHE spokesman described AMR as such: "AMR occurs when bacteria in our bodies adapt and find ways to survive the effects of an antibiotic medicine. When this happens, antibiotics lose their effectiveness and no longer work in fighting off infection caused by these bacteria. The more we use antibiotics, the greater the chance that bacteria in our bodies will develop resistance to these vital medicines."

Friday's appeal sees Davies come together with a team of renowned British medics to explain the consequences of a world without effective antibiotics. They also offer advice to parents on how to keep their families well and help play a part in preserving the antibiotics now in use.

Davies said: "Resistance to antibiotics is putting people's lives at risk, as well as creating extra pressure on our health care system, with drug-resistant strains of common diseases emerging here in the UK. We need to ensure that we only use antibiotics when clinically relevant." Endit