Antibiotic Over-use

We face a return to the dark ages of life-threatening surgery unless we can preserve the infection-killing powers of antibiotics, according to England’s chief medical officer.

Dame Sally Davies made her remarks as Public Health England (PHE) published a report showing that 3 million common surgical procedures, including caesarean sections and hip replacements, could be hazardous in a future where hospital-acquired infections have become resistant to the antibiotics we have to treat them. Davies said the evidence is clear “that without swift action to reduce infections, we are at risk of putting medicine back in the dark ages – to an age where common procedures we take for granted could become too dangerous to perform and treatable conditions become life-threatening.

It says bloodstream infections, where bacteria get into the body usually through a wound and can be fatal, rose by 35% between 2013 and 2017. There has been some progress in reducing total antibiotic use, however, which fell by 6.1% between 2014 and 2017 in England. But PHE is still very worried. The risk of infection in some sorts of surgery without antibiotics is significant. Antibiotics are given to one in three surgical patients either before they are wheeled into the operating theatre or when they are recovering. PHE says that without antibiotics, infections from surgery could double, potentially endangering lives. Antibiotics have long been losing their germ-killing power, for a number of reasons, including overuse. The report says they are still being given to patients with coughs, earaches and sore throats, which may be viral infections not susceptible to antibiotics and will get better by themselves anyway. PHE says a 2017 survey showed 38% of people still expect an antibiotic from a doctor’s surgery, NHS walk-in centre or GP out-of-hours service when they visit with a cough, flu or a throat, ear, sinus or chest infection.

Prof Paul Cosford, medical director of PHE, explained, “It is concerning that, in the not-too distant future, we may see more cancer patients, mothers who’ve had caesareans and patients who’ve had other surgery facing life-threatening situations if antibiotics fail to ward off infections. We need to preserve antibiotics for when we really need them"