Infectious Diseases

Biography

Biography: Farrah Bilal

Abstract

The effectiveness of antibiotics and anti-infectious agents (used to fight bacteria’s and bacterial infections) cannot be negated but now a day microbial resistance continuously develop. Therefore, bugs change in superbugs. These superbugs are multidrug resistant bacteria. So, this problem may progress and lead to significant risks to human health. Antibiotics resistance is becoming a serious problem especially for our community because the myth among people of our society that all type of diseases can be treated by antibiotics is one of key reasons for the misuse and overuse of antibiotics. The objective of our study was to evaluate the irrational utilization of antimicrobial agents, identify the common reason of misuse & over use of antibiotics and knowledge of our community about antibiotics. A descriptive study was conducted in 5 different clinical settings of Pakistan. Duration of study was three months, in which 1000 of patients (n=1000) selected randomly for questionnaire survey. A standardized structured questionnaire was designed, consisting of close ended type questions.

According to our study results, about 47.8% of patients told that they got infections yearly. 79.7% use antibiotics, 70.5% unaware about antibiotic resistance, 68.9% patients think antibiotic can use in flu and cough, 40.3% patients take antibiotics as self-medication, 50.7% purchase antibiotics without prescription, 47.4% patients used antibiotics in advise of their family member, 51.7% patients don’t know the misuse of antibiotics is harmful, 51.7% patients discontinue course when symptoms of disease eased, 65.5% patients think antibiotics can treat every illnesses. We concluded that unawareness about antibiotics is major factor of overuse of antibiotics which leads to antibiotics resistance. There must be need to spread knowledge about emergence of antibiotics resistance and its harms.