The National Health Research Institute yesterday expressed concern over Taiwan's overuse of antibiotics, fearing that in the near future public health would be threatened as the drugs lose their effectiveness in treating life-threatening diseases.
The institute has turned over the results of the investigation to the Department of Health's Center for Disease Control so the center can combat the problem.
The results released yesterday by Hu Mom-to (何曼德), an emeritus investigator at the institute, stated that Taiwan's use of antibiotics is higher than that of Spain, which ranks number one among all WHO members for antibiotic usage.
Ho said that Taiwan's overuse of antibiotics was examined from three perspectives: outpatient services, surgery and medication.
According to the study, 27 defined daily doses (DDD) of antibiotics are used per 1,000 people in Taiwan annually, which is higher than that of the 21 DDDs used by Spain.
A DDD, defined by WHO, is a fixed unit of measurement that enables researchers to assess trends in drug consumption and to perform comparisons between population groups.
Ho said that surgeons should administer antibiotics half an hour before surgery is to take place. The investigation conducted by his team revealed that approximately 70 percent of the surgeons in Taiwan issue antibiotics prescriptions that last from three to 14 days after the surgery.
Ho said that the public's frequent visits to clinics is another factor that contributes to the overuse of antibiotics in Taiwan.
There are approximately 50 million visits made to doctors every year in Taiwan for respiratory tract infections. Half of these infections are treated with antibiotics.
Ho said that Americans who visit doctors for respiratory tract infections and their doctors are much less likely to abuse antibiotics than people in Taiwan.
If the use of antibiotics is not regulated soon, Ho warned that patients with life-threatening diseases would soon face a situation in which many drugs would lose their effectiveness because bacteria are becoming more resistant to the antibiotics.
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