Taking leftover antibiotics is injurious to health

Although the invention of antibiotics has revolutionized medicine, using leftover antibiotics is dangerous.

The latest study has found that giving leftover antibiotics to others is injurious to health. Because use of these leftover medicines stimulates rising rates of antibiotic-resistant infections. This is dangerous not only for those given antibiotics that weren’t prescribed for them but for entire populations of people who some antibiotics may no longer help when the bacteria they target become resistant to them

For the study, an anonymous online questionnaire was distributed to a national sample of 496 parents through Amazon Mechanical Turk. Nearly half (48.2%) of the parents reported that they had kept leftover antibiotics rather than properly disposing of them. Of those, 73% subsequently diverted them to siblings, unrelated children, and unrelated adults — sometimes months after the antibiotic was originally prescribed — all without physician consultation. Parents also used the leftover antibiotics themselves.

The most common form of antibiotics diverted was liquids (80.4 percent of parents whose children were prescribed them) and drops (73.8 percent), compared to creams (69.7 percent) and tablets (55.6 percent).  The dosage of antibiotic that was administered was typically the prescribed dosage, even though the recipient of the antibiotic had changed, or was estimated based on the age of the child. Overall, 16 percent of participants stated that they had given their child medications meant for adults.

The researchers says that an  “alarming” percentage of parents in a national sample report sharing or borrowing antibiotics, a practice called prescription diversion The findings will be presented at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) National Conference & Exhibition.

The researchers say that more effort and resources need to be invested in educating families about how antibiotics work, that they aren’t necessary for all illnesses and the medical risks of taking antibiotics without consulting a health provider. It is imperative that clinicians emphasize the importance of use and dispose of these medications properly to make sure they remain an effective tool against infectious diseases