In a major health concern, researchers from Vijayawada have found that a number of powerful antibiotics had developed high resistance in the city, due to indiscriminate prescription of medicines in government and private hospitals. Resistance to antibiotics turns simple disease-causing germs into superbugs, after which fighting them turns difficult.
A few antibiotics like the antibacterial drug amikacin, are the only medicines showing effectiveness in combating disease-causing germs in Vijayawada. Even its effectiveness is only around 67 per cent. A majority of antibiotics including cotrimoxazole, nalidixic acid, amoxicillin, gentamycin and norflaxacin have acquired a resistance rate ranging between 55.1 per cent and 80.6 per cent. In other words, it means that only 20 to 45 per cent of the drug works, throwing the prescribed antibiotic regimen haywire.
The department of bio-technology attached to the School of Life Sciences, Montessori Mahila Kalasala, Vijayawada, conducted the research. “Our results suggest that indiscriminate prescription and consumption of new broad-spectrum antibiotics against sensitive organisms results in the development of antimicrobial resistance,” the researchers said, emphasizing the urgent need to curb excessive use of antibiotics in local hospitals to control the trend of increasing antimicrobial resistance to various drugs.