March 17, 2017
High level of antibiotics for children
New research has found Maori and Pacific children received more antibiotic courses than New Zealand European children.
The research by the University of Auckland’s He Ara Ki Mua Centre for Longitudinal Research found almost all New Zealand children have taken antibiotic medications by the time they are five years of age.
Study author Dr Mark Hobbs, says overall levels of antibiotic dispensing in New Zealand are higher than in the United States and many European countries with the highest levels being for young children and the elderly.
He is concerned prescribing such a lot of antibiotics for young children unnecessarily could have serious long term consequences, such as encouraging the spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria.
More than one third of the courses were dispensed during the three winter months and the majority of antibiotic courses were for one antibiotic drug, Amoxicillin.
Dr Hobbs says many courses are likely to have been for seasonal respiratory tract infections which are mostly caused by viruses where antibiotic treatment is not effective.
Other recent studies have found that treatment of strep throat, which does respond to antibiotics, has reduced the incidence of rheumatic fever in Maori and Pacific children living in areas of high socioeconomic deprivation like South Auckland.
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