Dentist : prescribe antibiotics promotes bacterial resistance

minervastock/epictura

Published the 09.10.2017 at 15: 45

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Keywords :

antibiorésistanceantibiotiquedentiste

Antibiotics are prescribed by dentists contribute to the emergence of bacterial resistance in Clostridium difficile, a strain responsible for digestive infections nosocomial severe, reports a study presented at ID Week 2017, the annual congress of the infectious diseases society of america. It stresses, moreover, that a majority of these requirements is deemed unnecessary.

The C. difficile infection is contracted in hospitals or retirement homes. Since 2005, several outbreaks have been reported in the United States, in Canada and in Europe. France has not been as affected as its neighbours in English or Dutch, but the strain responsible for these outbreaks has been isolated in several health structures.

But to believe the work of the department of health of the State of Minnesota and the united states Centers of prevention and disease control (CDC), C. difficile infecting not only in hospitalized patients.

Recommendations not followed

In analyzing the data of 1 700 patients with this infection, but who have not been admitted to the hospital between 2009 and 2015, doctors found that 15 % of them had received antibiotics from their dentist. Clindamycin, an antibiotic associated with resistance in C. difficile, was the drug most prescribed.

For nearly one-third of patients, oral care does not require antibiotic treatment, noted the authors. In other words, these specialists in teeth-have not respected the recommendations.

“It is important that dentists are aware of the impact of the prescriptions of antibiotics, including the impact on C. difficile,” commented Stacy Holzbauer, responsible for the work and an epidemiologist at the CDC and the department of health of Minnesota. They write over 24.5 million prescriptions for antibiotics per year (in the United States, editor’s note). It is essential that they improve their practice. “