Home | About Natural News | Contact Us | Write for Natural News | Media Information | Advertise with Natural News
NaturalNews.com
antibiotics

Growing Use of Antibiotics Concerns Health Officials

Monday, December 22, 2008 by: David Gutierrez, staff writer
Share/Save/Bookmark   Email this article to a friend Printable Version  FREE Email Newsletter

Articles Related to This Article:

The End of Antibiotics and the Rise of Iodine as an Effective Alternative

The End of Antibiotics

Antibiotics Kill Eighty Thousand Chinese a Year


Support NaturalNews advertisers - Advertise with NaturalNews


Help support NaturalNews with health books and educational programs from Truth Publishing:

Swine Flu Advanced Preparedness
8 Weeks to Vibrant Health
Raw In Ten Minutes (recipes)
How to Halt Diabetes in 25 Days
... and much more.

(NaturalNews) Doctors in the United Kingdom need to drastically scale back on prescribing antibiotics for respiratory tract infections, according to the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).

NICE, the agency responsible for deciding which treatments are most cost-effective for the United Kingdom's public health system, expressed concern that overuse of antibiotics could not only expose patients to unnecessary and risky side effects, but could also encourage the development of dangerous antibiotic-resistant strains of common pathogens.

"Management of respiratory tract infections in the past concentrated on advising prompt antibiotic treatment," said Paul Little of NICE. "However, as rates of major complications are much less common in modern developed countries, so the evidence of symptomatic benefit should be strong to justify prescribing antibiotics so that we are not needlessly exposing patients to side effects."

The majority of colds, sore throats and other respiratory infections are caused by viruses, and as such cannot be treated effectively by antibiotics, NICE said. It encouraged doctors to reassure patients that the drugs will not help them, or at least to wait before prescribing them. The use of antibiotics might still be justified in certain elderly patients or those showing symptoms of serious illnesses, however.

Respiratory tract infections account for 60 percent of the general practice antibiotic prescriptions in the United Kingdom, and approximately 25 percent of doctor's visits in England and Wales.

NICE's warning comes amidst rising global concern over the emergence of antibiotic resistant bacterial strains such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Because antibiotics kill normal bacteria but leave the drug-resistant strains unharmed, overuse of the drugs tends to create the perfect environment for drug-resistant bacteria to reproduce and spread without competition. Already, MRSA has become the most common organism responsible for skinned, soft tissue and surgical-site infections in the United States.

MRSA has a mortality rate three times higher than conventional S. aureus infections.

Sources for this story include: www.reuters.com.
Share


Get articles like this delivered to you FREE in our popular email newsletter

Related CounterThink Cartoons:


Related Articles:

The End of Antibiotics and the Rise of Iodine as an Effective Alternative

The End of Antibiotics

Antibiotics Kill Eighty Thousand Chinese a Year

Take Action: Support NaturalNews.com

Email this article to a friend

Share this article on: NewsVine | digg | del.icio.us

Permalink to this article:

Reprinting this article: Non-commercial use OK, cite NaturalNews.com with clickable link.

Embed article link: (copy HTML code below):



(FREE) Thursday evening, Dec. 3 at 6pm Pacific (9pm Eastern), call in to hear the NaturalNews Talk Hour with special guests Nick Stern, Sun Warrior Protein & KC Craichy, LivingFuel - "Super Foods, Optimal Health" - Register via email to receive call-in number:
Enter Your Email::
Support NaturalNews sponsors:
Advertise with NaturalNews...

Explore NaturalPedia.com, the internet's largest natural health encyclopedia of knowledge, covering over 50,000 topics. It's free!
Visit NaturalPedia.com.


FREE Report: The Five Best Anti-Viral Products to Beat Influenza, Swine Flu, Bird Flu and SARS

• Top anti-viral remedies
• Where to get them now
• Four things to avoid
• Become self-reliant
• Boost your family safety

Click here to read the FREE report now.

W.H.O. Declares Global Pandemic
Turn FEAR into Confidence!

Listen to the complete 3.5 hour recording on 4 audio CDs of the Health Ranger's Swine Flu Advanced Preparedness Course, covering natural anti-virals, family safety, infrastructure disruptions, quarantine, preparedness gear and much more.

Testimonials:

"Mike Adams' preparedness course turned our fears into confidence. This is POWERFUL information, coming from a trusted source. If you want to save yourself countless hours researching and getting prepared and if you want to do everything in your power to protect your family, I highly recommend the Health Ranger’s Advanced Preparedness Course."
- N. Nelson (Arizona)

"This is packed information no one should miss."
- T. Valenzuela

"Thanks Mike... during this class you covered prevention and preparedness from A to Z with integrity, brave honesty and outstanding knowledge! Thank you for your steadfast, thorough and cool-headed approach to well being. With deep gratitude for your service." - Bev

Available NOW for immediate shipping.
100% satisfaction guarantee

Click here to learn more...


NEW Product: Valley of Longevity Shampoo from the Health Ranger

• 98% Organic
• 100% Natural
• 100% Fragrance Free!
• No SLS
• No Parabens
• No synthetic chemicals
• FREE shipping in U.S. on orders over $75

Click here to read more...


What is this?


Enter your details to learn more:
First Name:
Last Name:
Email:

(Email privacy guaranteed.)

Breaking News Stories:

     See more breaking news...

Free Special Reports

How to Build Your Financial Safety Net
The 7 Principles of Mindful Wealth
The Healing Power of Sunlight and Vitamin D
The pH Nutrition Guide to Acid / Alkaline Balance
Pet Food Ingredients Revealed! (shocking)
Medicine From Fish
The Water Cure

Recommended Products Related to This Article*:

The Weiss Method for Heart Disease
How to reverse heart disease naturally
for heart disease, high cholesterol

Revealed: Natural Health Solutions (free)
Free summary of book by Mike Adams
for learning censored natural health remedies

Exposed! The Toxic Chemistry of Products
Free summary of this shocking book
for learning the truth about toxic products

Appetite for Profit (free download)
Free download summary of this top book
for discovering the truth about food companies

Additional Products of Interest to All

Katadyn Exstream XR Water Purifier
#1 personal water purifier
for clean, pristine water in seconds

Preparedness Tools Natural News Bundle
For preparedness and safety: 60% off
for preparing for natural disasters

How to Halt Diabetes in 25 Days
Health Ranger guide to reversing diabetes
for reversing type-2 diabetes

Free download: Selling Sickness (summary)
Read the best book on disease mongering
for learning the truth about Big Pharma

The Biology of Belief by Bruce Lipton
A free download of Biology of Belief
for learning about the mind-biology connection

The Genie In Your Genes by Dawson Church
A free, downloadable summary of this book
for learning about the biology of intention

Katadyn MicroPur Water Purifier Tablets
The best water purification tablets
for purifying almost any water source

* Products do NOT pay to be listed here. These are genuine, independent recommendations by the Health Ranger

☯ Products with this symbol are sold by NaturalNews or its affiliates and earn revenues for NaturalNews

Also on NaturalNews:

Streaming Health Ranger Videos
CounterThink Cartoons
FREE Special Reports
Podcasts


Home | About Natural News | Contact Us | Write for Natural News | Media Information | Advertise with Natural News

This site is part of the Natural News Network © 2009 All Rights Reserved. Privacy | Terms All content posted on this site is commentary or opinion and is protected under Free Speech. Truth Publishing International, LTD. is not responsible for content written by contributing authors. The information on this site is provided for educational and entertainment purposes only. It is not intended as a substitute for professional advice of any kind. Truth Publishing assumes no responsibility for the use or misuse of this material. Your use of this website indicates your agreement to these terms and those published here. All trademarks, registered trademarks and servicemarks mentioned on this site are the property of their respective owners.