News Pharmacist antibiotic use doubles after sore throat testing requirement is removed Data from the Welsh community pharmacy Sore Throat Test and Treat (STTT) service show that antibiotic prescribing increased from 27% to 63% during the COVID-19 pandemic.…Published: 21 January 2022
News Hospital to offer test that cuts wait for identifying secondary infection in COVID-19 patients Results from a study on a DNA test showed it could provide accurate pathogen detection and antibiotic resistance prediction within eight hours.…Published: 3 December 2021
News Antibiotic-resistant bloodstream infections fall for first time in five years A report by the UK Health Security Agency has revealed that the overall proportion of infections resistant to one or more antibiotics in England has risen since 2016.…Published: 17 November 2021
News Children discharged with pneumonia need only three days of antibiotic treatment, study results suggest Amoxicillin was found to be no less effective in children receiving the antibiotic for three days than it was in those who took it for seven days.…Published: 3 November 2021
News E. coli resistance on an ‘upward trajectory’ despite targets to cut antibiotic prescribing, according to review The 2015/2016 'Quality premium' successfully incentivised a reduction in antibiotic prescribing, but a review has revealed that the rate of Escherichia coli antibiotic resistance has continued to increase.…Published: 5 August 2021
News Delaying antibiotics is safe and effective in respiratory tract infection, analysis concludes Researchers found no difference in symptom severity when comparing patients who received delayed antibiotics with those who received them immediately or not at all.…Published: 24 May 2021
News Progress in cutting hospital prescribing of broad-spectrum antibiotics set back by pandemic, says NHS clinical lead Prescribing per hospital admission of certain broader-spectrum antibiotics increased by 3.6% between 2019 and 2020, owing to increased use during the COVID-19 pandemic.…Published: 14 May 2021
Opinion Bacterial co-infection is unusual in noncritical COVID-19 cases, so we must reduce our antibiotic prescribing Antibiotics are rarely indicated for COVID-19, yet prescribing has been high during the pandemic. Antimicrobial resistance has not gone away, so we must not forget our stewardship principles.…Published: 28 April 2021
News Point-of-care testing improves detection and treatment of influenza in hospital Patients randomised to molecular point-of-care testing were more likely to be correctly diagnosed.…Published: 12 March 2021
Feature Do long-term antibiotics for acne fuel antimicrobial resistance? Some healthcare professionals believe that antibiotic use in young people with acne could be reduced with earlier, pharmacist-led interventions.…Published: 25 February 2021
