New Zealand's rate of community antibiotic prescriptions remains comparably high - something experts warn puts us at greater risk from antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Photo / 123RFNew Zealand's rate of community antibiotic prescriptions remains comparably high - something experts warn puts us at greater risk from antibiotic-resistant bacteria. "[Doctors] should be aiming for reductions of 30 to 40 per cent in the number of antibiotic prescriptions they write," Associate Professor Mark Thomas says. The data also showed the reductions in antibiotic dispensing were broadly similar for different ethnic groups. "These findings go a very long way towards confirming that a very large proportion of antibiotic prescriptions dispensed in New Zealand confer essentially no health benefit," Thomas said.

Source: New Zealand Herald June 13, 2021 06:41 UTC