United States – Senior residential homes have been identified as hotbeds of antibiotic-resistant bacteria because doctors often prescribe antibiotics liberally, according to a report by Roberts.
Overprescription Fuels Superbug Spread
The study published in the Journal of Infection revealed that the stool samples collected from the residents of Australian senior homes host bacteria with varying genomes associated with antibiotic resistance, as reported by HealthDay.
“Commonly used tablet antibiotics in the elderly increase many types of resistance bacteria carried in the gut, and these so-called ‘superbugs’ can increase resistance to other important life-saving antibiotic drugs,” lead researcher Sophie Miller, a doctoral student at Flinders University in Australia, said in a news release.
“High prescription rates of antibiotics especially in the aged care facilities might be fueling the spread of such bugs,” she further said.
Antibiotic Resistance Genes on the Rise
According to Watchr researchers, the WHO has identified antibiotic resistance as the most effective risks to global health. Infections such as pneumonia, tuberculosis, gonorrhea, and salmonella, for instance, are difficult to treat as the effectiveness of antibiotics in combating them reduces day by day.
The researchers collected fecal samples from 164 individuals residing in one of five long-term senior care facilities in South Australia.
In the prior 12 months, three of five (61%) residents reported to have been prescribed antibiotics, stated the researchers.
In stool samples, researchers detected more than 1,100 specific antibiotic resistance genes that rendered cells immune to 38 antibiotic groups. Among them, 20 antibiotic-resistance genes closely related to clinical practice were selected.
Prescription misuse was named as having the biggest contribution to antibiotic resistance, especially doxycycline antibiotic. A study has revealed that prescription of doxycycline has raised the probability of presence of/reaction with high antibiotic resistance genes by one, nearly fifteen times.
“We discovered that an antibiotic commonly prescribed to aged care residents was strongly associated with an increase in resistance to other antibiotics the resident had not been prescribed,” Miller said.
Hidden Threats and Unseen Symptoms
Surprisingly, all such patients except one had these resistant genes, which were otherwise not evident from the symptoms of infection observed by the researchers.
“Our findings suggest that even antibiotics that are not typically associated with major modifications in gut bacteria can significantly escalate the presence of resistance genes,” Miller said.
Call for Caution in Prescriptions
These findings suggest that senior care facilities should be more cautious when administering antibiotics, noted the study’s senior researcher, Geraint Rogers, a fellow medicine and public health at Flinders University, as reported by HealthDay.
“As the population ages and life expectancy extends, the implications of our findings emphasize the importance of a holistic approach to antibiotic management in long-term aged care settings,” Rogers said.
“There are concerns that practitioners may be overprescribing antibiotics, potentially increasing the risk of resistant bacterial infections, and this study’s findings suggest a need for extra caution when prescribing them for older patients,” he added.