The number of packages of antibiotics prescribed in the Algarve Health Centers decreased by around 10% between 2009 and 2017, according to the report “Evolution of Antibacterial Prescriptions in Primary Health Care in the Algarve Health Region”.
This document has now been revealed by the Regional Health Administration (ARS) of the Algarve, as part of the European Antibiotic Day, which is marked this Sunday, 18 November.
Prescriptions of cephalosporins and quinolones, for example, decreased by 60% and 58%, respectively, over this time period.
"This decrease in the consumption of antibacterials is of great importance in improving the control of resistance to antibiotics and in their correct and effective use in the treatment of a wide range of bacterial infections, and antibiotics should only be used when strictly necessary, according to the guidelines for the Prevention and Control of Infections and Antimicrobial Resistance Program of the Directorate-General of Health», explains the ARS.
The prescription of antibacterials in 2009 totaled 80.902 packages in the Algarve region. Of these, 17,9% (14.447) were Quinolones, a group of drugs related to antibiotics, used for example in bacterial infections of the urinary or respiratory tract.
Although the number of users has increased by more than 30 since 2009, the total number of antibacterials decreased in 2017 to 72.846, with the prescription of Quinolones having halved 6023 (8,4%) in a period of six years.
During this same period, the prescription of Cephalosporins was also sharply reduced from 11.432 in 2009 to 4575 in 2017, or 60%.
“It also decreased the prescription of Macrolides by 6%, a medication used to treat, for example, pneumonia and bacterial sinusitis. This report also shows an increase in the prescription of narrower spectrum antibiotics such as penicillins (23%) and an increase in the association of penicillins with beta-lactamase inhibitors (6%)».
With the publication of this report on the prescription of antibiotics in the three Groups of Health Centers in 2009, 2016 and 2017, prepared by the Center for Monitoring and Analysis of Medicines and MCDT and by the Regional Coordination Group of the Infection Prevention and Control Program and Antimicrobial Resistance (GCR-PPCIRA) of the Department of Public Health and Planning of the ARS Algarve, «it is hoped to be able to reinforce the commitment of each one in the use of antibiotics, stressing that in viral infections, so common in winter, antibiotics they must not be used».
Every year, in November, the World Health Organization dedicates a week to antibiotics, with this initiative as its main objective to raise awareness of everyone, regardless of age, for their correct use, as a way to prevent the emergence and spread of resistance to antibiotics. antibiotics.
In Europe, and at the initiative of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), 18 November marks the European Antibiotic Day.
"Antibiotics are used inappropriately, when, for example, they are used to treat colds and flu (diseases caused by viruses against which antibiotics do not work) or are used incorrectly (the duration of treatment is not met, prescribed dose, the interval between doses)', according to the ARS.
“The ability of bacteria to resist antibiotics is increasing globally and no new antibiotics have been developed, which poses a serious threat to public health. Without antibiotics, infections caused by bacteria will hardly be treated», he concludes.
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