Knowing when to stop antibiotic therapy

Thompson, Angus J; Bindoff, Ivan; Stafford, Andrew C

doi:10.5694/mja15.00249

Topics

To the Editor: The recent article by Gilbert usefully drew attention to the the harms that can arise from unnecessarily long courses of antibiotics.1 It was of particular interest that she highlighted the misconception that resistance will emerge if a course of treatment is not completed.

1 University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS.
2 Curtin University, Perth, WA.

Correspondence: Angus.Thompson@utas.edu.au

Competing interests:

No relevant disclosures.

1. Gilbert GL. Knowing when to stop antibiotic therapy. Med J Aust 2015; 202: 121-122. <MJA full text>
2. Sansom LN, editor. Australian pharmaceutical formulary and handbook. 22nd ed. Canberra: Pharmaceutical Society of Australia, 2012.
3. Williams M, Peterson GM, Tenni PC, et al. Drug-related problems detected in Australian community pharmacies: the PROMISe Trial. Ann Pharmacother 2011; 45: 1067-1076.
4. PBS Information Management Section, Pharmaceutical Policy Branch, Australian Government Department of Health. Expenditure and prescriptions twelve months to 30 June 2014. http://www.pbs.gov.au/statistics/2013-2014-files/expenditure-and-prescriptions-12-months-to-30-june-2014.pdf (accessed Feb 2015).
5. Newby DA, Fryer JL, Henry DA. Effect of computerised prescribing on use of antibiotics. Med J Aust 2003; 177: 210-213. <MJA full text>

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