30% Of People In The United States Wrongly Prescribed With Antibiotics, Study Says

The use of antibiotics in one's body is considered to be important especially if it's badly needed. However, a recent study found that some of the prescribed antibiotics are not required -- which can actually help you save on a lot of money every year. 

Unnecessary Medicines Given Yearly

According to CIDRAP, nearly 30 percent of outpatients in the U.S. have been advised to take oral antibiotics. Children have the most unneeded antibiotic prescriptions along with the people living in the South, as per the study of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which is also part of the study, claimed in a press release that about 47 million unnecessary medicines are given every year. This puts the patients at unnecessary risk of getting allergies, or worse, fatal diarrhea called Clostridium difficile.

Common Patients Wrongly Prescribed With Antibiotics

The study involved the antibiotics provided in the doctors' clinic and emergency sections all over the United States. The CDC discovered that antibiotics are mistakenly prescribed to patients with respiratory problems produced by viruses. This includes "common colds, viral sore throats, bronchitis and sinus and ear infections," which are not curable by antibiotics, CDC reported.

"If we continue down the road of inappropriate use we'll lose the most powerful tool we have to fight life-threatening infections," said CDC Director Tom Frieden. "Losing these antibiotics would undermine our ability to treat patients with deadly infections, cancer, provide organ transplants, and save victims of burns and trauma." 

Doctors often end up prescribing antibiotics because patients -- and even parents -- pressure them to do so, Katherine Fleming-Dutra, a CDC medical epidemiologist and the study's lead author, explained. As a way to remedy the situation, Fleming-Dutra further noted that doctors should discuss dangers and risks linked with overconsumption of antibiotics with their patients, as most of them trust physicians to make correct diagnoses anyway.  

Battle Against Needless Antibiotics

In 2015, White House planned to stop the spread of "antibiotic-resistant bacteria" caused by the intake of unneeded antibiotics. The used of unnecessary antibiotics causes approximately 2 million diseases and 23,000 deaths in the U.S. alone every year, as per the Washington Post.

Hence, the government is eyeing to decrease the prescription of needless antibiotic to outpatients. It is targeting to cut the fatalities and illnesses rate by half in 2020.

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