ICMR Issues Guidelines On Usage And Time Limit Of Antibiotics
ICMR i.e. Indian Council of Medical Research has warned about the use of antibiotics. It has issued guidelines saying that people should not use antibiotics for diseases like low fever or viral bronchitis. ICMR has also advised doctors to take care of the time limit while prescribing these medicines.
ICMR has said in the guidelines that for skin and soft tissue infections, antibiotics should be given for five days. At the same time, antibiotics should be given for five days in case of pneumonia caused by community transmission and for eight days in case of hospital-acquired pneumonia.
The guidelines said, “Clinical tests help us to find out about the pathogens that cause the symptoms of the disease. This will help in formulating the right dose of antibiotic instead of blindly relying on fever, procalcitonin level, WBC count, culture or radiology to treat the infection."
A survey conducted by this research body between January 1 and December 31, 2021, said that a large number of patients in India are no longer finding 'carbapenem' antibiotics useful and no longer affecting them.
Analysis of the data has pointed to a continued increase in pathogens that underlie drug efficacy, and this increase has resulted in some infections becoming more difficult to treat with available drugs.
