Rampant antibiotic use in India, Bangladesh worries experts

NEW DELHI/DHAKA, Bangladesh

Experts in India and Bangladesh are worried over increasing drug resistance among people due to the rampant use of antibiotics.

On the eve of World Antimicrobial Awareness Week, observed from Thursday, they said the use of antibiotic drugs in absence of medical guidance is loaded with severe health consequences.

"If it is not stopped, the resistance rates will increase and deaths due to multi-resistance organisms will be more," Pallab Ray, a renowned microbiologist in India, told Anadolu Agency.

In 2015, the World Health Organization (WHO) in a multi-country survey found widespread antibiotic usage and resistance in India. Subsequently, in 2017 the government unveiled an action plan to combat antimicrobial resistance.

According to the State of the World’s Antibiotics, 2021 report released in February by the Washington-based Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics, and Policy, antibiotic use in India has risen sharply by 47% from 2010-2020.

Ray said common people need to be made aware of infectious agents, the differences between good organisms and bad organisms.

"They should know that antibiotics do not work against viruses which cause most of the common self-limiting illnesses like the common cold, sore, seasonal flu, and many of the diarrheal episodes. They should also be made aware of the short and long-term side effects of taking serious antibiotics," he said.

The microbiologist described “injudicious use of antibiotics a problem all over the world, especially in the developing world.”

"In the last decade or so, the consciousness about judicious use of antibiotics has grown exponentially and we are hopeful that the same will continue," said Ray.

In neighboring Bangladesh, doctors say they have found rampant use of antibiotics during the peak of pandemic in hospitals.

“The country's hospitals have become a hub for antimicrobial resistance. We, in our study, found random antibiotics during the peak of COVID-19 in hospitals. Overuse of some antibiotics has reduced the effectiveness up to 50% in the pandemic,” said Dr. Zakir Hossain Habib, principal scientific officer at the state-run Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control, and Research.

Bangladesh reels under overuse of antibiotics

A recent study conducted by the International Center for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh, has also found that hospitals in the country were admitting more and more young children with pneumonia who were highly resistant to standard antibiotics.

Dr. Habib noted that overuse and random use of antibiotics meant for animals has become another major concern for the country.

“A tremendous change has been made in agricultural cultivation, animal husbandry, and fish farming. We have big farms. Many of these farmers often use antibiotics as a safeguard and precautionary measure for possible bacteria-borne outbreaks,” he said.

Meanwhile, deaths among non-COVID-19 patients in incentive care were occurring largely due to antimicrobial resistance. Random use of antibiotics gives birth to kill bacteria that cannot be treated by antibiotics anymore and often cause deaths, said the health experts.

“It is so easy to transmit antimicrobial resistance from one part (country) to other parts. And, bacteria can carry resistance to other bacteria through direct gene transmission,” said Dr. Habib.

Improper waste management in hospitals is also draining antibiotics to the environment with a larger impact.

“Our body cannot completely absorb an antibiotic. As much as 20%-60% of a single dose usually comes out from the human body and remains alive in human waste. Improper waste management in hospitals could cause greater problems by depositing those remaining parts of antibiotics to the environment,” said the health expert.