Two-thirds of people think antibiotics can cure the flu

Almost two-thirds (64 percent) of some 10 000 people who participated in a World Health Organisation (WHO) survey believe antibiotics can be used to treat colds and flu, despite the fact that antibiotics have no impact on viruses.

Mail & Guardian, 18 November 2015

Close to one-third (32 percent) of people surveyed think they should stop taking antibiotics when they feel better, rather than completing the prescribed course of treatment.

The multi-country survey included 14 questions on the use of antibiotics, knowledge of antibiotics and of antibiotic resistance and used a mix of online and face-to-face interviews. It was conducted in 12 countries, namely South Africa, Barbados, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, Russia, Serbia, Sudan and Vietnam. There were some positive outcomes from South Africa: 87 percent of respondents know they should only stop taking antibiotics when they finish the course of treatment and more than 90 percent were prescribed their treatment by a doctor or nurse and were also given professional advice on how the medication should be taken.

Eighty-seven percent of South African respondents - more than any other country in the survey - recognised that it is not alright to use antibiotics that were given to a friend of family member. Sharing antibiotics can encourage the development of resistance. But in other African countries such as Nigeria, only 38 percent of respondents have heard of the term "antibiotic resistance".

Marc Mendelson, co-chair of the South African Antibiotic Stewardship Programme, warned that "twenty percent of the people surveyed by the WHO even thought that antibiotics should be used for [a virus such as] HIV". He said using antibiotics for a viral infection will only result in the person experiencing unwanted side-effects and it will increase the chances of antibiotic resistance.

The WHO's director general, Margaret Chan, cautioned that "antibiotic resistance is compromising our ability to treat infectious diseases and undermining many advances in medicine". She said the rise of antibiotic resistance is a global health crisis, and governments now recognise it as one of the greatest challenges for public health today.

She added that it is reaching dangerously high levels in all parts of the world. Mendelson said South Africa is "seeing untreatable bacterial infections in our hospitals".  He said the main reason for antibiotic resistance is because of the misuse and overuse of antibiotics for infections and reasons that are not required.

There is no difference between South Africa and other countries - it is a worldwide crisis, he concluded.

A copy of the survey can be obtained from: ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE: MULTI-COUNTRY PUBLIC AWARENESS SURVEY