People Who Carry Antibiotics With Them Often Use Them Unnecessarily

2023 Author: Abraham Higgins | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-30 04:59

People who carry antibiotics with them often use them unnecessarily

A traveler who has antibiotics in their luggage is more likely to eat them with the next diarrhea. Scientists are calling for more deliberate handling of these drugs.

/ FOTODOM /

Travelers who carry antibiotics with them just in case take them much more often than those who do not. Antibiotics are often taken off-label, such as to treat mild diarrhea, contributing to increasing bacterial resistance.

Increased resistance (resistance) of microorganisms to antimicrobial drugs, caused primarily by the excessive and uncontrolled use of antibiotics, is a generally recognized serious threat to human health. On their return home, about one in three travelers to the tropics brings back gut bacteria that are resistant to several antibiotics. The risk of contracting such bacteria is doubled by taking antibiotics while traveling.

The study, which was conducted jointly by the University of Helsinki, Helsinki University Hospital and Aava Travel Clinic (University of Helsinki, Helsinki University Hospital and Aava Travel Clinic), was to identify factors that increase antibiotic use among travelers.

It volunteered 316 travelers who contracted diarrhea while visiting the tropics. Among them, 53 people took antibacterial drugs from Finland with them.

Risk factors associated with antibiotic use in the study included taking antibiotics with you, vomiting, diarrhea that interferes or disrupts daily activities, and contacts with local health care.

The most common reason for antibiotic use is diarrhea, the most common illness in the tropics among travelers. Respiratory infections follow.

It was found that those who had antibiotics with them more often resorted to antibiotic therapy - 34% versus 11%. Severe diarrhea was treated with antibiotics similarly in the two groups, however, with antibacterial drugs, the rate of use was significantly higher with mild (29% versus 5%) and moderate (38% versus 4%) diarrhea.

“According to Finnish guidelines, antibiotics should be used for patients with diarrhea with a high fever, or an extremely serious illness or worsening condition, or if there is an underlying illness that could be exacerbated,” says AnuKantele, Project Manager, University of Helsinki Professor. "In other words, antibiotics should only be used to treat severe diarrhea, while mild to moderate illness requires fluid therapy and antibiotic-free drugs."

The factor determining the use of antibiotics is not the severity of the diarrhea, but the subjective experience of travelers in the perception of the degree of disruption of daily activities. “Doctors in Finland and elsewhere should stop routinely prescribing antibiotics for travelers' diarrhea,” Kantele concludes.