Starting in December, health authorities will broadcast a campaign on the proper use of antibiotics, they announced this Monday, November 13. If “antibiotics have helped save millions of lives and extend the life expectancy of all of us,” they are now “victims of their success.”
Reducing the consumption of antibiotics is an objective, in France and in other countries, to stop the emergence of resistant bacteria.
“France is one of the European countries with the highest consumption of antibiotics,” recalled the Director General of French Public Health (SPF), Caroline Semaille, quoted in a press release.
Antibiotic resistance, which has worried global health authorities for years due to its deadly consequences, is exacerbated by excessive or inappropriate consumption of these treatments. Result: certain infections become increasingly difficult to treat.
14% increase in 2022
Antibiotic consumption, which recovered in France in 2021 after a drop at the start of the Covid pandemic, continued to recover in 2022 at a more sustained pace, especially among children.
“While antibiotic consumption has followed a general downward trend since 2012, it increased in 2022 at a more sustained rate than in 2021,” according to an annual study carried out by Public Health France (SPF) based on data on reimbursements made by Social Security.
Antibiotic consumption increased by 14% in 2022, after rebounding by around 5% in 2021.
“However, it remains at a level slightly lower than that observed in 2019,” before the Covid pandemic, the SPF study specifies.
High consumption by children.
After a drop in the use of antibiotics in 2020, where strict anti-Covid measures (confinements, barrier gestures) had reduced the frequency of bacterial infections, “the years 2021 and 2022 were accompanied by a resumption of winter infections routine, medical consultations and antibiotic prescriptions,” the agency said in a press release issued at the same time.
“Significant” in children, antibiotic consumption in these young patients even returned to, or even exceeded, the pre-pandemic level in 2022. Among children aged 5 to 14, it increased almost 42% in one year, up to the level of 2019. Among children aged 0 to 4, consumption was “higher than in 2019,” SPF detailed.
It is not effective for viral infections.
According to health insurance, in France, “antibiotic resistance is responsible for 5,500 deaths annually and 139,000 hospitalizations per year.” The objective of this awareness campaign is to remember that antibiotics are only effective in cases of bacterial diseases and do not act against viral infections, such as bronchiolitis or the flu.
Only a health professional can determine if they are necessary and any use of antibiotics must be preceded by a medical prescription. Furthermore, its use must be “strictly respected to the letter”, that is, you must respect the duration of the treatment and do not reuse antibiotics for yourself or your loved ones, even in case of identical symptoms.
Source: BFM TV
