Antibiotic resistance in the nation has increased in the past decade, medical researchers said yesterday, citing their study of people with urinary tract infections (UTIs), which showed a 5 percent rise.
Researchers from Taipei Medical University, Shuang Ho Hospital in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和) and Kobe University in Japan studied how antibiotic resistance varies in different places.
The research team presented its results at the Sixth Regional Asian Clinical Trial Forum at Taipei Medical University.
Photo: Wu Liang-yi, Taipei Times
Shuang Ho Hospital urologist Chiang Yi-de (江怡德), the paper’s lead author, said that data were collected from about 21,000 people with UTIs who were treated at the hospital from 2015 to last year.
The data showed that 15 to 25 percent of the patients developed resistance to the antibiotics commonly used to treat UTIs, about 5 percent higher than the rate 10 years earlier, Chiang said.
Kobe University associate professor Katsumi Shigemura said he studied data from 3,500 people in Japan with UTIs from 2015 to last year.
Antibiotic resistance among them was between 10 and 20 percent, also an increase from earlier studies, he said.
The main reason for the increase is misuse and overuse of antibiotics, the researchers said.
The bacterium that developed resistance to drugs most quickly in Taiwan was Escherichia coli, while in Japan it was Klebsiella pneumoniae, Chiang said.
Both are common and usually harmless bacteria in the intestinal tract, but they can be dangerous if they are transferred to other parts of the body and become resistant to antibiotics.
The main reasons behind the rise in antibiotic resistance in Taiwan are loose regulations for antibiotics by the government and hospitals, low prices for antibiotics and people buying antibiotics at pharmacies without getting instructions on their proper use, Chiang said.
Many people think that they can stop taking a drug once the symptoms are relieved, but that allows the surviving bacteria to pass on their resistance to antibiotics, so the drug loses its effectiveness, Chiang said, adding that such infections become more serious if the bacteria also develop resistance to second-line drugs.
Chiang said that people with UTIs should seek medical treatment at clinics or hospitals, where they would get a proper evaluation and treatment, rather than by purchasing antibiotics from a pharmacy.
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
Chinese spouse and influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China videos that threaten national security, the National Immigration Agency confirmed today. Guan Guan has said many controversial statements in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” and expressing hope for expedited reunification. The agency last year received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification. After verifying the reports, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and explain her actions. Guan
GIVE AND TAKE: Blood demand continues to rise each year, while fewer young donors are available due to the nation’s falling birthrate, a doctor said Blood donors can redeem points earned from donations to obtain limited edition Formosan black bear travel mugs, the Kaohsiung Blood Center said yesterday, as it announced a goal of stocking 20,000 units of blood prior to the Lunar New Year. The last month of the lunar year is National Blood Donation Month, when local centers seek to stockpile blood for use during the Lunar New Year holiday. The blood demand in southern Taiwan — including Tainan and Kaohsiung, as well as Chiayi, Pingtung, Penghu and Taitung counties — is about 2,000 units per day, the center said. The donation campaign aims to boost
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) said a magnitude 4.9 earthquake that struck off the coast of eastern Taiwan yesterday was an independent event and part of a stress-adjustment process. The earthquake occurred at 4:47pm, with its epicenter at sea about 45.4km south of Yilan County Hall at a depth of 5.9km, the CWA said. The quake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in several townships in Yilan and neighboring Hualien County, where it measured 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the CWA said. Lin Po-yu (林柏佑), a division chief at the CWA's Seismological Center, told a news conference
RSS