GHA launches Antibiotic Awareness Campaign to tackle global resistance crisis

The Gibraltar Health Authority's [GHA] Antibiotic Awareness Campaign, led by Dr Nick Cortes, aims to combat antimicrobial resistance by promoting the judicious use of antibiotics, proper prescription practices, and public education during World Antibiotic Awareness Week.

The campaign is being run this week to highlight the problems of increasing bacterial antimicrobial resistance across the world due to excessive or improper use of antibiotics.

World Antibiotic Awareness Week is an annual initiative instigated by the World Health Organization during the month of November and followed in UK and Europe.

Under the banner ‘Right Dose, Right Frequency, Right Duration,’ the Consultant Medical Microbiologist and Chair of the GHA Antimicrobial Stewardship Team, Dr Nick Cortes, is spearheading a drive to heighten awareness among GHA staff through a series of daily informative posts and messages directed at all relevant clinical staff, especially targeting prescribers and healthcare staff involved in administering antibiotics.

Dr Cortes advocates a judicious use of antibiotics and their prescription only when it is clinically proven or highly suspected that a bacterial infection exists, further advising clinicians to consider, depending on the clinical circumstance, a “watch and wait & safety netting” approach or delayed antibiotic prescription, if there is any uncertainty that an infection is bacterial in nature.

“For instance, many coughs and colds and sore throats are viral and do not need to be treated with antibiotics,” said a statement from the GHA.

“Use of an antibiotic when not needed has long lasting effects on an individual’s microbiome, promoting development of resistant organisms.”

“The Antimicrobial Stewardship Team asks local clinicians to prescribe in accordance with local GHA guidelines.”

“In some cases it may then be necessary to later tailor treatment based on laboratory results that test which antibiotics are effective against the microorganism causing the infection, following the UK Start Smart Then Focus approach.”

“Another facet of the initiative concentrates on ensuring antibiotics are prescribed for the appropriate duration.”

“Audit data has shown a tendency towards overly long antibiotic courses – this can also be a driver for antibiotic resistance to develop.”

Dr Cortes and the Antimicrobial Stewardship Team are also emphasising the importance of accurately recording antibiotic allergies such as penicillin allergies on patient medical records, to avoid patients being incorrectly labelled as allergic to penicillin due to a side-effect or intolerance as opposed to a genuine allergy.

Inaccurate allergy labels can result in patients receiving less effective second line treatment and also serve to further fuel antibiotic resistance.

“There is a global problem with rising resistance to antibiotics. Although current trends show Gibraltar is presently not as severely impacted as other countries in the EU or worldwide, we are dealing with resistant microorganisms on a daily basis in our practice,” said Dr Cortes.

GHA Director General, Kevin McGee, added that antibiotics are life-saving medicines for the treatment of infections.

“They are a hugely valuable pharmacological asset. Unfortunately, worldwide overuse in situations when it was not necessary to prescribe them has created a situation where their effectiveness and utility are under threat.”

“Our awareness week led by Dr Cortes is therefore of great importance for the GHA and for clinical staff to be alive to the internal guidelines to ensure their correct use.”

“The community at large also needs to understand that antibiotics should only be used in the appropriate clinical circumstances.”

The Minister for Health and Care, Gemma Arias-Vasquez, said that antibiotic awareness week is part of the GHA’s continuing efforts to promote a better understanding of health issues in the community. In this case, a vital type of medication and its effective use by medical professionals in a clinical setting to combat infections.

“Dr Cortes’ work in this field is outstanding. It is important that the public understands these basic concepts to avoid the type of problems being experienced in a much greater scale in other parts of the world,” she said.