New campaign aims to fight overuse of antibiotics

AORN Journal,  Nov, 2003  

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the US Food and Drug Administration, in partnership with national health organizations, state and Local health departments, managed care organizations, pharmaceutical companies, and other groups, have unveiled a public health campaign to urge consumers to be cautious about their use of antibiotics as the cold and flu season approaches, according to a Sept 1-7, 2003, news release from the US Department of Health and Human Services. The Get Smart: Know When Antibiotics Work campaign stresses that antibiotics are ineffective treatment for viruses, such as those that cause colds and flu, and that inappropriate antibiotic use--particularly among children--is contributing to an alarming growth of global antibiotic resistance.

The campaign must combat consumers' notion that antibiotics can cure any type of illness, as well as the fact that millions of antibiotics are prescribed in physicians' offices for viral infections that are not treatable with antibiotics. Physicians cite diagnostic uncertainty, time pressure, and patient demand as the primary reasons for their tendency to overprescribe antibiotics.

Antibiotic resistance can present significant danger to children and adults who have common infections that once were easily treatable with antibiotics. During the past 10 years, almost every type of bacteria has become stronger and less responsive to antibiotic treatment. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria can spread quickly to family members, friends, and coworkers--threatening the community with a new strain of infectious disease that is more difficult to cure and more expensive to treat.

The campaign will include a series of television, radio, and print public service announcements and comprehensive national, state, and local outreach programs. More information about this campaign and antibiotic resistance is available on the CDC's web site at http://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance /community/.

HHS, Public Health Partners Unveil New Campaign to Promote Awareness of Proper Antibiotic Use (news release, Washington, DC: US Department of Health and Human Services, Sept 17, 2003) http://www.hhs.gov /news/press/2003pres/20030917.html (accessed 23 Sept 2003).

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