Are we killing the cures? Antibiotic resistance.

According to the WHO the lack of effective controls on the sale of antibiotics is a main cause of microbes’ growing resistance to antimicrobial drugs. While most Latin American and Caribbean countries have laws to control the sale of medicines few have adequate means to enforce them. Given other pressing economic and social problems antibiotic resistance has not been a top government priority. Consequently the growing antibiotic resistance in the region is also pushing up the costs of treatment as doctors must increasingly rely on the latest-generation antibiotics often in combination with the less expensive ones. Thus the Pan American Health Organization issued guidelines for its member countries in 1999 that called for the following measures: creation of surveillance systems; control of antibiotic sales; better training for health personnel on drug dispensing; control of quality of medicines; and public education campaigns.