To prevent further worsening cases of bacterial resistance and forestall future dearth of drugs to treat the wide range of infection existing in the world today, Nigerians have been advised to handle antibiotics with care and use them according to directions.
According to medical experts at a scientific symposium and launch of the world’s first single dose antibiotic Zmax organised by multinational pharmaceutical company, Pfizer in Lagos recently, there’s need by all stake holders – doctors, pharmacists and patients – to preserve the potency of existing antibiotics by using them rationally in view of the high rate of drug resistance worldwide.

In his opening remark, the chairman of the symposium Prof. Babatunde Onadeko of the Lagos State College of Medicine disclosed that the problem of drug resistance, a major cause of antibiotic failure in Nigeria is due to inappropriate use of antibiotics in the country.

“The inappropriate use of antibiotics in our environment either through inadequate dosage and inadequate duration of treatment by the medical practitioners or by the patients’ own attitude, through premature stoppage of therapy or deliberate omission of individual doses, at irregular intervals, leads to the development of bacterial resistance top antibiotics and/or treatment failure with development of complications. Similarly, the route of antibiotic administration, patients’ tolerance of the drug and development of adverse side-effects are some of the factors leading to non-compliance and treatment failure.

According to him, the common resistant bacteria such as Streptococcus pneumoniae and H influenzae are the most common micro-organisms isolated in community acquired pneumonia (CAP), described as the most infectious cause of death in many countries including Nigeria.

Another speaker, Prof.Greg Erhabor, a consultant chest physician and head, Department of Medicine, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife described non-compliance in the use of antibiotics as the greatest determinant in terms of morbidity and mortality of pneumonia.

According to him, non-compliance leads to treatment failure, deterioration in the patient’s condition, increased use and costs of health-care resources, requirements for additional drugs, hospital admission and drug resistance. He advised Nigerians to use antibiotics as prescribed so that they will remain useful and potent for a long time.

Presenting a paper titled “the Age of Appropriate antibiotic Use” Dr. Musa Babashani, a Consultant Physician at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano, also disclosed that anrtibacterial resistance caused mainly by inappropriate use of antibiotics has been reported widely in different parts of the country.

According to him appropriate antibiotic use remains a good way of preventing resistance. Also, he said, there is need to preserve the activity of current drugs as the development of new drugs for treating infections has been on the decline in recent years.

“Over the last decades, the issue of antibacterial resistance has been rising and that is not matched by appropriate development of antibacterial production,” he said, while also advocating an appropriate antibacterial use guided by normal scientific guidelines.
He urged Nigerians to use antibiotics wisely, while doctors should also diagnose and treat infections effectively.

A major highlight of the symposium was the launch of Zmax, the first single-dose antibiotic for the treatment of adults with mild to moderate community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) by Lagos State Commissioner of health, represented by the Chief Medical director of Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LAUTH), Dr, Femi Olugbile.