Daily Mail
7-19-5
Using antibiotics can lead to an increase in the chances of a patient carrying antibiotic resistant bacteria, a study revealed today.
The study tested urine samples from 3,000 healthy adults registered with GPs in the Bristol and Gloucester areas.
The researchers found samples taken from people who had been prescribed antibiotics within two months of the test were almost twice as likely to carry antibiotic resistant E.coli bacteria.
Dr Alastair Hay, from Bristol University, who is also a GP in the city, said the resistant strains had been given an advantage by the antibiotics.
He said: "The use of antibiotics allows organisms that may exist in small quantities, and are resistant to that antibiotic, to predominate.
"All the susceptible bacteria get killed off so that those that are remaining are the ones which are resistant. They are given a selective advantage within the body."
E.coli bacteria
The E.coli bacteria, naturally found in the human gut, were tested for resistance to the common antibiotics Amoxicillin and Trimethoprim.
Patients who had taken antibiotics 12 months before the test did not have increased levels of resistant bacteria because the time period was too long and non-resistant bacteria had returned.
Dr Hay said GPs would not be too concerned when it came to prescribing antibiotics in the future.
Dr Hay said: "We know that the use of antibiotics in the last 50 or 60 years has led to the development of antibiotic resistant bacteria on a population level.
"But when it comes down to an individual level the risks are less easy to quantify.
"Although GPs are aware of the problem in the population as a whole, when deciding whether or not to prescribe antibiotics for an individual they may consider the risk as being minimal."
The samples tested came from adults who were not displaying any symptoms of urinary disease.
Dr Hay said: "The first clinical implications of this study may be that if a patient has recently had a course of antibiotics, a GP may want to choose a different antibiotic if the patient subsequently develops a urinary infection."
The research, funded by the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy is published in the July 2005 edition of the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.
©2005 Associated Newspapers Ltd
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