“Antibiotics are not automatic.” Social Security managed to impose this slogan in the 2000s before replacing it in 2018 with “antibiotics, they’re precious, let’s use them better.” The message remains the same, in the face of excessive consumption of this type of medication, which attacks pathogenic bacteria but is ineffective against viruses. Public Health France warns today specifically about the excessive use of antibiotics for young children, indicates the parisian.
While the number of prescriptions has been falling almost steadily for ten years for all age groups, even falling below 1,000 per year for 1,000 children aged 0-4 in 2020 (which is due in part to a drop in consultations during the health crisis), the National Public Health Agency saw this figure once again exceed 1,200 last year. In question, the abandonment of barrier gestures and above all the return of the massive spread of winter diseases. Problem: Many of the runny noses this fall are not due to a bacterial infection, but to a virus.
A new awareness campaign
The old awareness campaigns coincided with a drop in the overuse of antibiotics, Health Insurance and Public Health France have therefore returned with new posters to be displayed in the homes of professionals. Together with a girl who affirms that “antibiotics do not work against her angina”, we find a new slogan: “Antibiotics, good treatment, above all use them well”.
“It’s natural selection. If we take it too often, we end up with infections that are much more difficult to treat,” explains infectious disease specialist Pierre Tattevin in Parisian.
Similarly, overreliance on antibiotics can weaken the microbiota, the network of microscopic organisms that help our bodies function properly, and can lead to chronic disease.
Among the largest European consumers
According to the report, the knowledge of the French about antibiotics is clearly too low: 77% of French people mistakenly believe that they can treat acute bronchitis, more than 65% also bronchiolitis and 53% the flu. A lack of knowledge reinforced by the fact that doctors continue to prescribe this type of treatment for viral diseases, often without testing their patients.
“They have the impression that it takes time and they prefer to do what they want,” explains pediatrician Christophe Batard to the Parisian.
Some patients don’t hesitate to ask their doctor for antibiotics if they don’t deliver them themselves.
France now ranks fourth among the countries with the most antibiotic use according to the report, with an average of 700 prescriptions per 1,000 inhabitants in 2021. At the top of the ranking are Greece, Romania and Bulgaria.
Source: BFM TV
