First World Antibiotics Awareness Week

It’s the first World Antibiotics Awareness Week starting today (16^th November).

The week aims to increase awareness of global antibiotic resistance.

Antibiotic resistance is an everyday problem across England and Europe. The spread of resistant bacteria in hospitals in particular is a major issue for patients' safety.

• Infections with antibiotic-resistant bacteria increase levels of disease and death, as well as the length of time people stay in hospitals.
• Inappropriate use of antibiotics may increasingly cause patients to become colonised or infected with resistant bacteria.
• Few new antibiotics are being developed. As resistance in bacteria grows, it will become more difficult to treat infection, and this affects patient care. 

Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest threats facing us today. Without effective antibiotics, many routine treatments will become increasingly dangerous. Setting broken bones, basic operations and chemotherapy all rely on access to antibiotics that work. By using antibiotics less often we can slow down the development of resistance. It’s not possible to stop it completely but slowing it down stops resistance spreading and buys some time to develop new types of antibiotics. 

Find out what you can do to help slow down antibiotic resistance by visiting the NHS Choices website.

For more information on the awareness week, please click here

Published 16th November, 2015