LIVING

The widespread misuse of antibiotics sparked a national campaign by the Ministerio de Sanidad y Consumo in October 2006. Its aim was to slow down the rate of antibiotic resistance by educating the public. The campaign’s slogan warned of the dangers of antibiotic abuse: “Bacterial infections that we have a cure for today, may not have [a cure] tomorrow”.

Antibiotics are mostly used against bacterial infections. Once the bacteria—or pathogens—enter the body, they begin to multiply and cause illness. Antibiotics work by either stopping the bacteria from multiplying (bacteriostatic drugs) or killing the bacteria (bacteriocidal drugs). The most common are bacteriocidal drugs and they usually work by inhibiting the function of essential proteins, often enzymes, inside the bacterial cell.

This system is fine if all the bacteria are killed, but people often misuse antibiotics unknowingly, either by not completing the course, or by taking antibiotics that have been hanging around the medicine cabinet for too long. In these cases the bacteria will not be completely killed off—leaving the strongest, most resistant to live on and multiply, passing on their resistance to their progeny. The result is a population that has a higher resistance to antibiotics.

Imma Garrell Lluis, a Barcelona physician at CAPSE (CAP Salut de l’Eixample), tries her best to educate her patients about antibiotics. It’s a never-ending task, considering the two thousand or so patients she has on her register, but she feels it is part of her job to try to change the mindset of people when it comes to using medicine properly. She thinks the role of the Ministry of Health is important, and was a big fan of last year’s campaign.

“I loved it. It was funny and accurate, it should be repeated every year to educate people. Changing people’s attitudes is slow and difficult. It’s not so bad with patients I have been seeing regularly for years, but it’s those who don’t come to the doctors very often that go straight to the pharmacist and self-medicate.”

Strictly speaking, pharmacists should not give out any medication that reads ‘By Prescription Only’, but they often do. Garrell strongly disagrees with this practice. “It undermines the effectiveness of the drugs, and it also undermines my job as a GP.”