Held every 18 November, European Antibiotics Awareness Day (EAAD) is a European public health initiative that promotes responsible use of antibiotics. The day raises awareness of the threat to public health of antibiotic resistance and encourages prudent antibiotic use.
The number of patients infected by resistant bacteria is growing, which means that antibiotics are losing their effectiveness at an increasing rate. The problem is caused by the inappropriate use and prescribing of antibiotics and is a major threat to patients’ safety and public health. Using antibiotics responsibly can help us to ensure that antibiotics are effective for the use of future generations.
To raise awareness of this vital topic, we’ve put together a reading list of free articles from the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, selected by the Editor-in-Chief, Alan Johnson.
Trends in antibiotic prescribing in primary care for clinical syndromes subject to national recommendations to reduce antibiotic resistance, UK 1995–2011: analysis of a large database of primary care consultations by Hawker JI, Smith S, Smith GE et al.
This paper investigates trends in prescribing antibiotics in relation to nationally recommended best practice in the UK. It reports on the mixed success of implementing national guidelines, with prescribing antibiotics for coughs and colds now being greater than before recommendations were made to reduce it.
Good practice recommendations for paediatric outpatient parenteral antibiotic therapy (p-OPAT) in the UK: a consensus statement by Patel S, Abrahamson E, Goldring S et al.
BSAC and the British Paediatric Allergy, Immunity and Infection Group have written recommendations to highlight good clinical practice and governance for managing children on intravenous antimicrobial therapy in secondary or tertiary care settings. Managing children on intravenous antimicrobial therapy at home can improve parent and patient satisfaction and reduce health-care associated infections.
Longitudinal trends and cross-sectional analysis of English national hospital antibacterial use over 5 years (2008–13): working towards hospital prescribing quality measures by Cooke J, Stephens P, Ashiru-Oredope D. et al.
This study examines the variation in antimicrobial use in individual hospitals in the UK. It uncovers a wide variation in usage between individual hospitals and recommends the urgent development of quality measures of optimal hospital antimicrobial prescribing.
Evaluation of antifungal use in a tertiary care institution: antifungal stewardship urgently needed by Valerio M, Rodriguez-Gonzalez CG, Muñoz P et al.
This article explores the quality of antifungal use and reports on antifungals being prescribed unnecessarily in 16% of cases. It considers the potential savings that could be made by optimising antifungal therapy.
Effect of antibiotic stewardship programmes on Clostridium difficile incidence: a systematic review and meta-analysis by Feazel LM, Malhotra A, Perencevich EN et al.
Despite vigorous infection control measures, Clostridium difficile continues to cause significant disease burden. This paper demonstrates that restrictive antibiotic stewardship programmes can be used to reduce the risk of Clostridium difficile infections.
A window into the lives of junior doctors: narrative interviews exploring antimicrobial prescribing experiences by Mattick K, Kelly N, Rees C et al.
Prescribing medications is an important challenge in the transition to junior doctor practice. This study explores the antimicrobial prescribing experiences of foundation year doctors in two UK hospitals and offers some practical solutions to the challenges they face.
Impact of implementation of a novel antimicrobial stewardship tool on antibiotic use in nursing homes: a prospective cluster randomized control pilot study by Fleet E, Rao GG, Patel B et al.
This paper evaluates the impact of ‘Resident Antimicrobial Management Plan’, a novel antimicrobial stewardship tool on systemic antibiotic use for treatment of infection in nursing homes. This pilot study demonstrated that the use of this tool was associated with a significant increase in total antibiotic consumption.
Antibiotic use in Dutch primary care: relation between diagnosis, consultation and treatment by van den Broek d’Obrenan J, Verheij TJ, Numans ME et al.
The aim of this study was to describe the antibiotic management of infectious diseases in the clinical context in the Netherlands. It examines trends in prescribing antibiotics for different types of infection and concludes that complete data on infectious disease management, with respect to patient and physician behaviour, are crucial for understanding changes in antibiotic use, and in defining strategies to reduce inappropriate antibiotic use.
Effect of antibiotic streamlining on patient outcome in pneumococcal bacteraemia by Cremers AJH, Sprong T, Schouten JA et al.
This study investigated whether streamlining in bacteraemic pneumococcal infections is associated with mortality. This practice can reduce the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics but is poorly undertaken due to lack of clarity related to patient safety.
The efficacy of non-carbapenem antibiotics for the treatment of community-onset acute pyelonephritis due to extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing by Park SH, Choi SM, Chang YK et al.
Extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Escherichia coli has become an important cause of community-onset urinary tract infections. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of non-carbapenem antibiotics for acute pyelonephritis (APN) due to ESBL-producing E. coli.
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