India & World UpdatesHappeningsBreaking News
ICMR issues guidelines warning against use of antibiotics for conditions such as low-grade fever
way2barak, Nov.27: The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has issued guidelines warning against the use of antibiotics for conditions such as low-grade fever and viral bronchitis while advising doctors to follow a timeline while prescribing them.
The ICMR guidelines stated that antibiotics should be prescribed for a duration of five days for skin and soft tissue infections, five days in case of community-acquired pneumonia and eight days for hospital-acquired pneumonia.
It stated limiting empiric antibiotic therapy to seriously ill patients. Generally, empiric antibiotic therapy is only recommended for a select group of patients suffering from severe sepsis and septic shock, community-acquired pneumonia, ventilator-associated pneumonia and necrotizing fasciitis.
Hence, it is important to start smart and then focus, i.e., evaluate if empiric therapy can be justified or de-escalated and then make a plan with regard to the duration of therapy, the guidelines said.
An ICMR survey conducted between January 1 and December 31, 2021 had suggested that a big chunk of patients in India may no longer benefit from the use of carbapenem, a powerful antibiotic administered mainly in ICU settings for the treatment of pneumonia and septicemia, etc., as they have developed anti-microbial resistance to it.
