Delhi: In the contemporary era, unprecedented diseases also require unprecedented precautions. The world is filled with so many infections that even young people are forced to take pills and antibiotics
Delhi: In the contemporary era, unprecedented diseases also require unprecedented precautions. The world is filled with so many infections that even young people are forced to take pills and antibiotics frequently. Recently, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has issued guidelines against the use of antibiotics for conditions such as low-grade fever and viral bronchitis while advising doctors to adhere to a timeline while giving advice.
“Clinical diagnosis mostly helps us predict the causative pathogens fitting the clinical syndrome that will lead to appropriate antibiotic preparation rather than relying blindly on fever, procalcitonin levels, WBC counts, cultures or radiology to diagnose the infection,” the guidelines said.
New ICMR guidelines
- This ICMR The guidelines state that antibiotics are prescribed for a period of five days for skin and soft tissue infections, five days for community-acquired pneumonia and eight days for hospital-acquired pneumonia.
- In general, empiric antibiotic therapy is recommended only for a select group of patients with severe sepsis and septic shock, community-acquired pneumonia, ventilator-associated pneumonia, and necrotizing fasciitis.
- Hence, it is important to start smart and then focus, that is, assess whether empiric therapy can be justified or de-escalated and then make a plan in terms of duration of therapy, the guidelines said.
- N ICMR A survey conducted between January 1 and December 31, 2021 suggested that a large proportion of patients in India may not benefit from the use of carbapenems, a potent antibiotic administered in ICU settings mainly to treat pneumonia and septicemia, etc. They have developed anti-microbial resistance to it.
- Analysis of the data has pointed to a steady increase in drug-resistant pathogens, resulting in difficulty treating certain infections with available drugs.
- Among Pseudomonas aeruginosa, another bacteria that causes infections in the blood, lungs (pneumonia), or other parts of the body after surgery, susceptibility to all major antipseudomonal drugs has steadily increased over the past few years.
- C. Parapsilosis and c. Some fungal pathogens such as glabrata show increasing resistance to commonly available antifungal drugs such as fluconazole, thus requiring close monitoring over the next few years.
