The usage of antibiotics in Russia and some countries in Eastern Europe

Abstract The patterns of antibiotic use in 1998 in Russia and some other countries in Eastern Europe (Belarus, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary) were studied. Poland, Slovakia and Hungary were ‘more modern’ users of antibiotics, consuming new and expensive drugs. Russia and Belarus were ‘conservative’ having a lower level of total consumption and using lesser quantities of penicillins, cephalosporins, macrolides, quinolones, carbapenems but greater amounts of aminoglycosides and chloramphenicol. It is essential for ‘conservative’ countries to establish a national surveillance system of antibiotic consumption to monitor the development of bacterial resistance to antimicrobial agents and to monitor individual antibiotic use.