A LOCAL doctor has warned that antibiotic overuse locally has led to the growth in bacterial resilience in Swan Hill on the back of the launch of the country’s first ever Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy.
Federal health minister Sussan Ley and agriculture minister Barnaby Joyce announced the national strategy on Tuesday, saying it would address the decreasing effectiveness of antibiotics because of the rise of resistance in disease-causing bacteria.
Bacteria, viruses, parasites and other disease-causing microbial organisms can develop a resistance to the antibiotics used to treat the infections they cause, especially when they are overused.
Ms Ley, who is also the member for the local seat of Farrer, said in 2013 more than 29 million prescriptions for antibiotics were supplied under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) to over 10 million patients, or 45 percent of all Australians.
She also cited a recent survey showing 65 percent of Australians believed antibiotics would help them recover from a cold or flu more quickly, one-in-five people expected to receive antibiotics for colds and flu and nearly 60 percent of GPs surveyed would prescribe antibiotics to meet patient demands.
“The over and misuse of antibiotics has been identified as a significant contributor to the emergence of resistant bacteria,” Ms Ley said.
“Australia’s consumption of antibiotics is one of the highest among developed countries and well above the OECD average.”
Swan Hill Medical Group’s Doctor Mike Moynihan said he has seen bacterial infections — or bugs, as they’re more commonly known as — steadily gain resistance in the Swan Hill district, using the example of urinary tract infections.
“When I first came here to the district in 1985, all antibiotics worked for all urinary tract infections — and we do see a lot of them — and gradually, one by one, they’ve been losing their potency since then,” Dr Moynihan said.
Dr Moynihan said doctors needed to stop being trigger-happy with their prescription pens, but patients also needed to minimise their expectations when heading to the GP.
“We’ve been preaching this for a very long time, but doctors have been very slow to catch on with this,” he said.
“People have got to realise it’s not a good idea for people to go in to the doctor and say, ‘I want an antibiotic’.
“Let the doctor assist you and help you work out whether you need one or not, and then use it if it is absolutely necessary.
“But if you push the doctor too hard for an antibiotic, they’ll often give way just for the sake of peace.”
For more on this story, grab a copy of Friday’s paper (June 5).
