Romanians and Medicines

According to a recent Eurobarometer, Romanians take more antibiotics than the other Europeans and are less informed about the way in which antibiotics should be administered.

Christine Leșcu, 18.12.2013, 13:17

Given the latest warnings issued by the World Health Organization regarding the increasing resistance of certain bacteria to antibiotics, the European Commission has recently launched a Euro barometer related to medicines consumption among Europeans. What’s intriguing about the issue is that the excessive use of antibiotics increases the resistance of certain bacteria. As regards Romanians, results are not really encouraging: Romanians take more antibiotics than the other Europeans and are less informed about the way in which antibiotics should be administered. For instance, asked if they took antibiotics in the past 12 months, 47% of Romanians said ‘yes’ as compared to 35% the European average.

But what is more worrying than the number of Romanians who took antibiotics is how they bought them: asked “How did you come to take antibiotics?” 75% said they got them based on a medical prescription, 5% said they received them from a physician and 18% said they bought them over the counter in a pharmacy. By comparison, 87% of Europeans answered that they obtained the antibiotics based on a medical prescription, 8% received them from a physician and 3% bought them over the counter. But why is the doctor’s prescription important when it comes to the use of antibiotics? Journalist Vlad Mixich attempts an answer:

“Most Romanians, as compared to Europeans, take antibiotics without a prescription. Moreover, they are the most ignorant among European citizens as regards the use of antibiotics. If one knew exactly what an antibiotic cures, then it would be no problem to use it without a medical prescription. But Romanians’ problem is that they do not know how to use antibiotics. Speaking from a medical point of view, this is not only an individual issue but also a community one. One of the top priorities of the world public healthcare is the increased resistance to antibiotics.”

In winter and especially when temperatures fluctuate, people are affected by colds and flues and 55% of Romanians as compared to 41% Europeans consider that antibiotics are efficient in treating these ailments and take them without asking the opinion of a physician, and they do not know that a viral infection is not treated with antibiotics. Antibiotics are prescribed only in the case of bacterial infections. Doctor Sandra Alexiu with the National Society of Family Physicians in Romania gives us more details:

“Each infection should be investigated based on several tests. There are infections that are so obvious that they can be treated after the first visit to the physician. But in most cases of infections you need further tests to make sure that it’s a bacterial infection, which is treatable with antibiotics.”

Although Romanian laws regulate the sale of medicines, patients can buy them over the counter, in pharmacies. How is that possible? Doctor Sandra Alexiu is back at the microphone:

“There is a list of all registered medicines in Romania and each drug has a code related to the type of prescription, specifying if a drug is delivered based on a medical prescription and if the prescription needs to be renewed after some time. Unfortunately this code is not always taken into consideration. For instance many parents prefer to go directly to a pharmacy when their kid get sick instead of seeing a doctor and the reasons are many: it’s either crowded, it’s a weekend or they act on the spur of the moment. On the other hand, pharmacists are allowed to prescribe a certain type of treatment for infectious diseases and at weekends they can sell antibiotics over the counter for only two days, so that the treatment can be continued after seeing a doctor.”

In spite of all this, is it possible that physicians prescribe antibiotics when it’s not the case? Sandra Alexiu:

“Antibiotics are excessively prescribed even by physicians and this is not a problem only in Romania, the practice is spread all over the world. But self-medication is worse than excessive prescription of medicines, because in the latter situation, a doctor saw the patient and made a decision. Maybe it’s not the best decision but it’s an assumed decision that can be contested. Self-medication poses a risk, which patients take when they treat an ailment without having the necessary medical knowledge.”

Journalist Vlad Mixich believes that one cannot state that Romanian physicians prescribe antibiotics excessively as there is insufficient data to back this supposition. Responsibility is individual and it all depends on people’s level of education, in which the authorities should be involved. Vlad Mixich:

“We need a national awareness-raising campaign supported and financed by the healthcare ministry because this is the institution responsible for education and prevention; and this is a matter of prevention, namely preventing the spread of infections that are resistant to antibiotics.”

One of the microbes resisting classical treatments is the one that causes tuberculosis. The World Health Organization has warned that in several parts of the world a new form of this disease has emerged, which cannot be treated with known medication used so far.