During a raging pandemic it is obviously worthwhile to use hand sanitisers, particularly when we are unable to wash our hands. But we should minimise their use when cases drop.
Estimating the cost of antibiotic resistance to economies and health-care systems is fraught with difficulty, but new research says Australia will be hit harder than we think.
The African continent has the highest burden of gonorrhoea worldwide. In South Africa alone, it’s estimated that more than 2 million new cases occur annually.
As antimicrobial resistance increases, the options for treating serious infections dwindle. Doctors need reliable information about which treatments to try out.
Antimicrobial resistance is a public health and economic disaster waiting to happen. If we do not address this threat, by 2050 more people will die from drug-resistant infections than from cancer.
Antibiotics aren’t a one-size-fits-all treatment – the one you had last time might not work on the infection you have at the moment. So how do doctors determine which one is likely to work?
Asha Bowen, Telethon Kids Institute et Steven Tong, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity
Antibiotic resistance is one of the greatest health challenges of the modern day. It’s especially prevalent, and must be acted on, in Australia’s remote Indigenous communities.
Antibiotic resistance is one of the greatest health challenges we face today. But making a few small changes to the way antibiotics are prescribed could make a big difference in Australia.
A new report estimates that by 2050, 40 per cent of all infections will be resistant to antimicrobial treatment. This will directly cause 13,700 previously preventable deaths.
Healthcare workers in sub-Saharan Africa lack access to laboratory diagnostics and often have to guess which antibiotics to use for presumed infections.
Washing hands and coughing into your elbow can help limit the spread of infectious diseases on planes and around the globe. So why don’t passengers read about this in their inflight magazines?
Consultant Microbiologist, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, Ireland and Professor and Head of Department, Clinical Microbiology, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences