Soaring numbers of antibiotics are being taken worldwide, raising fears the drugs will become useless. Countries including Spain and Greece, which hand out antibiotics over the counter without prescription, are fuelling the rise in antibiotic use. This is because too many people using antibiotics creates 'superbugs' resistant to the drugs, which could infect people following surgery. A study of 76 countries involving Princeton University found the global population took an estimated 35 billion daily doses of antibiotics a day in 2015. The figures, based on national samples, show antibiotics taken across the world have leapt from 11.3 daily doses per 1,000 people in the year 2000 to 15.7 daily doses in 2015.

Source: Daily Mail March 26, 2018 23:37 UTC