Excessive antibiotics use causing 0.7m deaths each year: Health experts

KARACHI: Health experts on Thursday warned the masses on the excessive use of antibiotics, saying that the issue was causing 0.7 million deaths each year and the figure could rise in future.

Speaking to the media at Karachi Press Club, Head of Infectious Diseases Aga Khan University Hospital Dr Bushra Jameel said that the use of antibiotics in the country was on the rise.

“If we do not put an embargo on the excessive use of antibiotics, up to 300 million people could die each year by 2050”, he added.

He said that sometimes unawareness was not a blessing and could hurt one’s health if we do not recognise the danger.

Dr Sana Noor, working at the microbiology department of Liaquat National Hospital, said that antibiotics work against bacteria and not the virus. However, many general practitioners fail to realise this.

“When we prescribe an antibiotic in large quantity for treatment, the body develops resistance and eventually becomes a hurdle against the medicines itself. This is the reason why many people are not cured for a long time”, Dr Noor added.

Health expert urged the people to avoid antibiotics for viral infections such as common cold, cough, fever and other communicable diseases until and unless an authentic doctor, GP or hospital prescribes them.