NEWS UPDATE-DECISION MAKING TOOL TO PRESCRIBE ANTIBIOTICS

CONTROL OF ANTIBIOTICS

The latest news has surfaced out that in most pediatric treatments for respiratory infections one-third of the treatments contain unnecessary prescriptions for antibiotics. This leads to serious life-threatening complications of antibiotic resistance in children. The research has been published in Lancet Respiratory Medicine.

The authors of the news have predicted that if these unnecessary prescriptions are halved there is a possibility of controlling the serious complications of antibiotic resistance.

Respiratory tract infections with cough are the most common cause of prescribing antibiotics by the doctors to the children. But ironically it has been found that 90% of the cases were with mild complications and to which an antibiotic is unnecessary.

A study was conducted over 8000 children with a tool of seven key predicting factors to help to identify between children under low risk to whom antibiotics are unnecessary and children under high risk to whom antibiotics are necessary.

The proposed tool named STAR WAVE contains seven diagnostic predictors of future hospitalization that can be easily identified by the doctors when a patient visits them. They are,

1.Duration of the illness (more than 3 days)

2.High Temperature(If it is more than 37.8 degrees C)

3.Age (If under 2 years)

4.Respiratory complications

5.Wheezing

6.Asthma

7.Severe vomiting

If children with any 0 to 1 complication of the above they are said to be at low risk. Antibiotics and hospitalizations are not necessary.1 to 3 at normal risk need moderate treatments and children who have more than 4 predictors and above need invasive prescriptions.