ANTIBIOTICS could be rendered useless in little over a decade because over-prescription is leading to increased resistance from disease, a leading expert has warned.
Prof Hugh McGavock, a specialist in prescribing science, has claimed that an antibiotic crisis could lead to thousands of people dying from previously treatable illnesses by 2015.
He said bacteria resistance to antibiotics is not just due to doctors prescribing them unnecessarily but also due to the use of antibiotics in the farming industry over the past 50 years.
Prof McGavock, from the University of Ulster, said that increasing resistance to such drugs could lead to surgical procedures being stopped because the antibiotics needed will be rendered useless. He added that, while many patients may be prescribed antibiotics when they do not need them, they also exacerbate the problem by failing to take their medications...
