Antibiotics and pneumonia

by Dr Norman Swan

Researchers have compared how GPs from 13 countries use antibiotics to treat pneumonia.

24 08 2009

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One of the greatest medical advances ever has been the discovery and development of antibiotics. People who in a bygone era would have died now survive, many of them young with their lives in front of them. But antibiotic use has spun out of control, with resistance spreading across the world. And there's a risk that with some diseases we could be thrust back to a pre-antibiotic era.

A study in 13 countries has looked at GPs' prescribing habits when they think somebody might have pneumonia. They come in with cough, fever, runny nose, producing sputum. Now just like sore throats, pneumonia can be caused by a virus, and therefore isn't helped by an antibiotic.

So there's controversy about what to do and whether the drugs work when somebody comes in with what's called an acute cough.

The results showed that the habits of General Practitioners' prescribing antibiotics varied widely, but they tended to give the drugs to people who they perceived were at risk, for example who were older, or sicker and had been smokers.

The bottom line was that it was hard to see much of a benefit from antibiotics in general, apart maybe from a slightly earlier recovery.

Note: This is the transcript of the video version of this story and may differ slightly from the original audio version as broadcast on NewsRadio.