A blister pack of Azithromycin, a full course of antibiotics taken in five doses, is photographed at the Access Family Pharmacy.Too many people in Tennessee are asking for antibiotics and too many doctors are prescribing them – a practice that renders once-powerful drugs ineffective against infections, according to a recently released study.
Tennessee ranks third – behind West Virginia and Kentucky – for retail pharmacy sales of antibiotics, according to the Extending the Cure project, which aims to curtail their use and stem the spread of drug-resistant bacteria.
Infections once easily cured with antibiotics, such as pneumonia and gonorrhea, now have fewer treatment options. Overuse of antibiotics also is linked to MRSA, a type of staph infection, and a virulent strain of diarrhea.
Could ‘lose these drugs’
Bacteria over time can mutate and outsmart antibiotics, particularly when the drugs are widely used and patients do not take their medicine for the full treatment course.