At a pharmacy in Vietnam (Illustrative photo: VNA) HCMCity (VNS/VNA) - Antibiotics are overused and misused widely in Vietnam,health experts have warned, calling for drastic measures to curb antimicrobialresistance (AMR) in the country.
At a recent conference on AMR prevention and control in HCM City, president ofthe city’s Communicable Diseases Association Nguyen Van Vinh Chau said Vietnam’sAMR rate was 40 percent, ranking fourth in Asian-Pacific countries.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), antimicrobial resistance isthe ability of microorganisms, such as bacteria, viruses, fungi or parasites,to grow in the presence of a drug that would normally kill them or limit theirgrowth.
As a result, normal treatments become ineffective, meaning infections becomemore serious, leading to longer illness, higher treatment cost and greater riskof death.
Because of AMR, a growing number of common infections, such as pneumonia,urinary tract infections, tuberculosis and food-borne illnesses are becomingharder and sometimes impossible to treat.
Vietnam is among the countries that have witnessed a growing threat of AMR,brought about by the irrational use of antibiotics at all levels of thehealthcare system, in aquaculture and livestock production and in thecommunity, according to the WHO.
Chau said a major cause for the high rate of AMR in Vietnam was thatantibiotics were sold, bought and used without prescriptions.
Studies found that 88 per cent of drug stores dispense antibiotics without aprescription despite the fact it is prohibited by Vietnamese law.
Easy access to antibiotics meant people took unnecessary antibiotics,which resulted in the medicines not working anymore, Chau said.
He also added other factors causing the problems, for example, doctors’improper prescription, the transmission of antibiotic-resistant bacteria among people in healthcareinstitutions and the transmission of antibiotic-resistant bacteria from animalsto human.
Head of Pharmacy Department of HCM City’s Tropical Diseases Hospital Huynh PhuongThao said that antimicrobials accounted for more than 50 percent of drugs usedin human medicine in Vietnam, and were the most commonly sold drugs incommunity pharmacies.
“For years, the country failed to control the unlawful sale of antibiotics atstores or the prescription of doctors at private clinics,” she said.
Thao also said that about a third of patients in healthcare institutionsused antibiotics without proper prescriptions.
Studies at her hospital found that AMR was reported among 30-40 percent of thepatients who received treatment at the hospital. Some cases were resistant toColistin – the latest antibiotic generation.
Associate Prof. Dr Ngo Thi Hoa from Oxford University’s HCM City-based researchunit said the overuse of antibiotics in livestock also caused AMR among people.
“People are exposed to AMR from agriculture production through three main waysincluding the direct contact to animals that consume antibiotics, contact tothe animal waste that is discharged into the environment and people consumeproducts like meat, eggs or milk of animal that are fed with antibiotics,” Hoasaid.
While the number of antibiotic-resistant bacteria is increasing, few newantibiotics have been developed, she said, adding that 19 antibiotics werefound in 1980 but only six in 2010.
Notably, the life of an antibiotic in the past could last decades but today, onaverage, a new antibiotic faces the threat of its resistant bacteria withinfive years, she said./.
At a recent conference on AMR prevention and control in HCM City, president ofthe city’s Communicable Diseases Association Nguyen Van Vinh Chau said Vietnam’sAMR rate was 40 percent, ranking fourth in Asian-Pacific countries.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), antimicrobial resistance isthe ability of microorganisms, such as bacteria, viruses, fungi or parasites,to grow in the presence of a drug that would normally kill them or limit theirgrowth.
As a result, normal treatments become ineffective, meaning infections becomemore serious, leading to longer illness, higher treatment cost and greater riskof death.
Because of AMR, a growing number of common infections, such as pneumonia,urinary tract infections, tuberculosis and food-borne illnesses are becomingharder and sometimes impossible to treat.
Vietnam is among the countries that have witnessed a growing threat of AMR,brought about by the irrational use of antibiotics at all levels of thehealthcare system, in aquaculture and livestock production and in thecommunity, according to the WHO.
Chau said a major cause for the high rate of AMR in Vietnam was thatantibiotics were sold, bought and used without prescriptions.
Studies found that 88 per cent of drug stores dispense antibiotics without aprescription despite the fact it is prohibited by Vietnamese law.
Easy access to antibiotics meant people took unnecessary antibiotics,which resulted in the medicines not working anymore, Chau said.
He also added other factors causing the problems, for example, doctors’improper prescription, the transmission of antibiotic-resistant bacteria among people in healthcareinstitutions and the transmission of antibiotic-resistant bacteria from animalsto human.
Head of Pharmacy Department of HCM City’s Tropical Diseases Hospital Huynh PhuongThao said that antimicrobials accounted for more than 50 percent of drugs usedin human medicine in Vietnam, and were the most commonly sold drugs incommunity pharmacies.
“For years, the country failed to control the unlawful sale of antibiotics atstores or the prescription of doctors at private clinics,” she said.
Thao also said that about a third of patients in healthcare institutionsused antibiotics without proper prescriptions.
Studies at her hospital found that AMR was reported among 30-40 percent of thepatients who received treatment at the hospital. Some cases were resistant toColistin – the latest antibiotic generation.
Associate Prof. Dr Ngo Thi Hoa from Oxford University’s HCM City-based researchunit said the overuse of antibiotics in livestock also caused AMR among people.
“People are exposed to AMR from agriculture production through three main waysincluding the direct contact to animals that consume antibiotics, contact tothe animal waste that is discharged into the environment and people consumeproducts like meat, eggs or milk of animal that are fed with antibiotics,” Hoasaid.
While the number of antibiotic-resistant bacteria is increasing, few newantibiotics have been developed, she said, adding that 19 antibiotics werefound in 1980 but only six in 2010.
Notably, the life of an antibiotic in the past could last decades but today, onaverage, a new antibiotic faces the threat of its resistant bacteria withinfive years, she said./.
VNA
