Antibiotic resistance a ‘collective responsibility’

Despite winter coming to an end for another year, the 2025 flu season has brought with it a surge in respiratory illnesses.
 
As cases continue to spike, experts are calling for patients and healthcare professionals alike to consider a ‘growing misuse of antibiotics’ which can lead to a rise of antibiotic-resistant superbugs.
 
In one study, antibiotic resistance was linked to almost five million deaths in 2019, including 1.27 million directly attributable to a resistant bacterial infection.
 
Dr Tien Bui, a research fellow at the University of South Australia, said that over the past 30 years, medicine use and prescription rates in children has skyrocketed.
 
He says it is more important than ever for families to understand safe and appropriate medicine use, including of antibiotics.
 
‘This often happens when people use antibiotics when they’re not needed, or fail to complete their prescribed course of antibiotics, which speeds up the process of resistance,’ Dr Bui said.
 
‘When antibiotic resistance takes hold, standard treatments become ineffective, making infections harder, or even impossible, to treat, increasing the risk of disease, severe illness and death.
 
‘To combat antibiotic resistance, we must take collective responsibility – from better hygiene to smarter medicine use.’
 
It comes after last year, Australia’s Chief Medical Officer Professor Tony Lawler issued a reminder to patients, saying they should not take antibiotics ‘just in case’, nor use antimicrobials prescribed for other people.
 
‘Don’t pressure your doctor or veterinarian for antimicrobials if they say you or your animals don’t need them,’ he wrote.
   
‘Instead ask about other ways to manage the signs and symptoms.’
 
And with research recently published in The Lancet suggesting deaths directly attributable to a resistant bacterial infection could rise to almost two million by 2050, researchers say now is the time to take action.
 
‘To tackle antibiotic resistance, we need to lift our game – practising good hygiene, staying up to date with vaccinations, and only using antibiotics when they’re truly needed,’ Dr Bui said.
 
‘Using antibiotic wisely, by taking the right one, at the right dose, for the right duration is essential if we want to slow the spread of superbugs.’
 
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antibiotic resistance respiratory illness