As per an article in Deccan Chronicle, the Kerala State Government plans to have an Standard Operating Procedure for prescription of antibiotics. This is to ensure that narrow-spectrum antibiotics are tried before broad-spectrum ones, based on grading of patients on the seriousness of their infections. This will prevent the development of antimicrobial resistance. Already, the…

The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a comprehensive report on Superbugs, highlighting the problem of AntiMicrobial Resistance (AMR). Significant points: 1. No major types of antibiotics discovered in the last 30 years 2. This report covers data from 114 countries – high levels of resistance found in all parts of the world 2. Without…

“Missing Microbes – How Antibiotics can do Harm” – by Dr. Martin J. Blaser – published March 2014 Dr Blaser is a professor of medicine and infectious diseases at New York University. Some points from the book – 1. Increasing resistance due to rampant abuse of antibiotics 2. Benevolent bacteria are killed as well by…

In Sept 2013, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the United States issued what was seen as the first time hard-data was made available on the problem of antibiotic resistance. The report estimates that 2 million Americans are infected each year by antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains and lead to 23,000 deaths per annum….

  Antibiotic introduced in year First resistant bacterial strain found in Penicillin introduced in 1940 Penicillin-resistant staph – 1940 Tetracycline introduced in 1950 Tetracycline-resistant shigella 1959 Erythromycin introduced in 1953 Erythromycin-resistant strep – 1968 Methicillin introduced in 1960 Methicillin-resistant staph aureus (MRSA) – 1962 Levofloxacin – 1996 Resistant bacteria emerged in – 1996 Linezolid –…

A recent article highlights for example the danger of artemisinin-resistant bacteria emerging in Cambodia. Currently, these bacteria have been restricted to the East of the Moei river which separates Burma and Thailand. But once these cross over to India and Bangladesh and then to Africa, the problem will become difficult to contain. Artemisinin is often…

Drug resistance, especially to antibiotics, is becoming a serious problem for public health policy makers the world over, both in developed as well as developing countries. Common causes of increasing antibiotic resistance are: 1. Self-medication by patients for a variety of common diseases 2. Using antibiotics as a first line of defence, instead of as…

Dynamic Techno Medicals was the Diamond Sponsor of the Annual Conference on Trauma (Traumacon 2014) . About 350 doctors attended the event. The Organizing Secretary was Dr. Rajesh Simon of Lakeshore Hospital. TRAUMACON 2014 Annual Conference on Trauma 2014 Starts: 2014-02-06:00.000 Ends: 2014-04-27:00.000 Hotel Crowne Plaza Cochin, Kerala India

In August 2012 at the Clinical Infectious Diseases Society conference in Chennai, a road-map was laid out to tackle the problem of increasing resistance of bacteria to antibiotics. This is popularly known as the Chennai Declaration. It envisages that within 5 years, 90% of all antibiotics should be included in Schedule H1 and be sold…

Section H1 Drugs and Cosmetics Rules In September 2013, the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules 1945 was modified. A section H1 was added to specify certain 3rd and 4th generation antibiotics in addition to some anti-TB drugs and addictive drugs. For the drugs under Schedule H1, pharmacies are required to retain a copy of the prescription…