Antibiotic resistance posing threat to public health: Naik

Antibiotic resistance is posing "threat to public health" in the country, and is putting at risk the ability to treat common infections in the community and hospitals, the government today informed Rajya Sabha.
Minister of State for Health Shripad Naik listed inappropriate use of antibiotics, poor infection prevention and control in hospitals among the reasons for this threat.
Government has joined hands with the WHO to deal with the danger, saying antibiotic resistance is happening across the world and is putting at risk the ability to treat common infection in the community and hospitals,
"Organisms causing infectious disease like urinary tract infection, hospital-acquired infection, pneumonia, typhoid, TB among others are becoming resistance to antibiotics," he said.

Inadequate monitoring of anti-microbial usage, usage or availability of poor-quality drugs, lack of awareness among practitioners, patients, pharmacists and public in general about anti-microbial resistance (AMR) and lack of standardised treatment guidelines for most of the diseases are other reasons for it, he said.