Chinese public calls for tighter supervision on antibiotics use

According to a recent survey conducted by China Youth Daily, 83.3 percent of 2,003 respondents say there's a need to strengthen supervision of the use of antibiotics to curb drug abuse.

In China, many people regard antibiotics as “panacea,” which are widely used to cure a cold, fever or whenever they don’t feel comfortable. Over 73 percent of respondents say the misuse of antibiotics exists in their daily lives.

“More and more people know the harm of abusing of antibiotics nowadays, but it is still worrying that people take it at exceeding amount, and on a frequent basis,” said Zhang Sufan, a retiree in north China’s Hebei Province.

Antibiotics is a general concept, with different varieties to deal with different symptoms. For example, there are four generations of cephalosporins. Some are used to anaerobic-bacteria infections, while others are only effective to aerobic-bacteria infections.

It is hard for the average person to distinguish which kind of antibiotics they should take. However, many Chinese patients do so without a prescription or advice from a doctor. “Antibiotics can be purchased at some unregulated drug stores, so the easy access to antibiotics makes the situation worse,” said Shanghai resident Zhang Jiashuo. 

According to the report, Chinese doctors are also to blame for the abuse of antibiotics. A pharmacist who wanted to be identified under the pseudonym Qiu Hong in Hebei Province told China Youth Daily that about half of hospitalized patients in China receive antibiotics, while the average prescription rate is 10 percent, a relatively high number in the world. “China’s infection control started quite late, so doctors tend to prescribe higher amount of antibiotics and more advanced ones to avoid infections.”

A majority of respondents said that harsher punishment for abusing antibiotics is needed, and watchdogs should do more to properly educate the public about the issue.

Abuse of antibiotics is not only risky to patients, but can also lead to drug-resistant infections, which has already become a major challenge to global public health, causing the death of 700,000 people and 230,000 newborns globally every year, according to Xinhua.

In recent years, China's health authorities have urged the strengthening of supervision over the clinical use of antibiotic drugs to contain drug-resistance strains, including inspections and monitoring the use of drugs to improve early warnings.

At the same time, World Health Organization last year called on more research to develop new antibiotics to combat the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance.