Antibiotics no longer effective, warn doctors

LOSS OF IMMUNITY: Experts warn growing antibiotic intake has led to resistance in pathogens.

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New Delhi: A poster printed during the end of World War II, announced the beginning of the antibiotic era. Six decades later, time may have come to write the obituary. An era called the post-antibiotic era is coming when popping an antibiotic will no longer be effective.

“In 15 years we may reach a stage when all pathogens become resistant. We may have to go back to older drugs,” warns Head of Delhi Society for Promotion of Rational Use of Drugs, Prof Ranjit Roychaudhri.

The primary cause is the increasing over-consumption of antibiotics, something which can be blamed on greater access to medical facilities.

Growing supply of generic drugs, self-medication and over-the-counter availability have also led to mass consumption.

Most chemists claim they sell about a 1000 antibiotics a day. And given the easy accessibility, the figure is by no means an exaggeration.

“Most oral antibiotics are available without prescription,” Prof Roychaudhri says.

In India, antibiotic resistance is most likely to occur in case of communicable diseases like cholera, influenza, dengue, jaundice, malaria, and hepatitis; and many resistant pathogens called 'superbugs' are already showing these signs.

“Tuberculosis and typhoid pathogens are already becoming resistant. Urinary and chest infections and many ICU infections also showing similar resistance,” says member Internal Medicine Apollo Hospital Dr Suranjit Chatterjee.

The last new antibiotic came sixteen years ago. Today the ones produced are mostly combinations of existing antibiotics. Experts now advise that rational use of antibiotics and boosting your own defence mechanism are best ways to prepare for the future.