Antibiotics: Overprescribed and Possibly Dangerous
New research reveals that doctors may be prescribing antibiotics for longer than needed. This could have economic and health consequences on patients and broader society.
A recent study from the UK found a substantial proportion of antibiotic prescriptions were being over-prescribed. While for each prescription this may have only been a few days longer, for the UK as a whole this amounted to about 1.3 million days of antibiotics more that would have been necessary.
Researchers are currently investigating how much of a problem this is in Australia.
The Daily spoke to Professor Allen Cheng, expert in Infectious Diseases Epidemiology from Monash Uni, to discuss this issue.
