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The best way to do this is to prevent the need for them in the first place by minimising the risks of infection. If treatment is required, ensure that first line choices are always given, unless contraindicated and that both the practitioner and patient are well educated in the correct use of the drug.
Causes of antibiotic resistance It is generally accepted that the rise in antibiotic resistance is attributed to four main causes: overuse, inappropriate prescribing, agricultural use and fewer new antibiotics on the market.
Considering Antibiotic Resistance in Aesthetics Prescribing pharmacist Gemma Fromage details how aesthetic practitioners can assist in slowing the rate of antibiotic resistance As all medical professionals know, antibiotic resistance is the ability of microbes to withstand the effects of medications. Germs are therefore not killed and as a result of this resistance they continue to grow.1 Since the development of antibiotics, millions of lives have been saved. However, if the rate of resistance continues, as it currently is, it is estimated that there will be 10 million deaths per year by 2050 and take society back to a pre-antibiotic existence.2 According to the World Health Organisation, antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest threats to global health.1 Resistance cannot be stopped, however it can be slowed. Although this needs to be tackled globally, there are steps that individuals and clinics within the aesthetic field can take to reduce infection and, in turn, assist in the reduction of spread of resistance. To prevent infection arising from aesthetic treatments such as dermal fillers or laser treatments, it is important that we keep the numbers of antibiotics we are prescribing, and therefore antibiotics consumed, to a minimum.
Overuse Studies have shown there is a direct link between the overuse of antibiotics and the increasing rates of bacterial resistance.12 Overuse can have many effects; resistance can not only occur spontaneously via mutation, but also antibiotics remove drugsensitive competitors, resulting in resistant bacteria being left behind to reproduce due to natural selection.13 It is well-established that antibiotics are overused worldwide, despite repeated warnings.14 Whilst in the UK, antibiotics are still prescription-only medications, they are freely available over the counter in a number of countries like Norway, Germany, Slovakia and Romania. As such, their use is unregulated with no need for a prescription or to see a medical professional beforehand.14 With no regulation behind their sale and often being both cheap and plentiful, it is inevitable that overuse will occur.15 In addition, with the prevalence of online sales of these products, their
The history of antibiotics The modern era of antibiotics began in 1928 with the discovery of penicillin by Sir Alexander Flemming.3 He then spent years trying to persuade scientists to take an interest in it and it wasn’t until 1939 that a team in Oxford, headed by Foley, Heatley and Chain began work with penicillin.4 The first human to be trialled on was Albert Alexander on in February 1941. The treatment was a success, but due to a lack of product to continue treatment he relapsed and died. The problem was producing enough product. So, they headed to America in a bid to industrialise penicillin production. The plan was to have enough penicillin supply for medical support for the planned invasion in Europe. By D-Day, June 6th, 1944, the armies were well stocked with penicillin to treat war wounds. In March 1945, penicillin was made available over the counter in US pharmacies and then available in the UK as a prescription-only drug in June the following year.4 However, within just a decade, resistance was already becoming a problem.5 The discovery and subsequent use of antibiotics has without a doubt been one of the
most significant cornerstones of clinical medicine in the latter half of the 20th century, saving lives, extending life spans6 and playing a key role in both medical and surgical advances.7 In contrast, the last decade of the 20th century and first two decades of the 21st century has seen the spread of antibiotic resistance. Antibiotic resistance is on the rise among many microorganisms in all health-care settings, as well as in the community.8 In 2007 the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) reported 25,000 deaths per year as a direct consequence of multidrug resistance (MDR) with a total cost of â‚Ź1.5 billion.9 The study was then repeated in 2015 and it was estimated that the number of deaths per year has increased to 33,000.10 Reported data also suggests that almost two million cases of infection with resistant bacteria have been reported in the US every year, leading to $20 billion incremental direct healthcare cost.
Reproduced from Aesthetics | Volume 7/Issue 2 - January 2020
