Pharmaceutical tablets and capsules in foil strips are arranged on a table in this picture illustration taken in Ljubljana September 18, 2013. Picture taken September 18.

Pharmaceutical tablets and capsules in foil strips are arranged on a table in this picture illustration taken in Ljubljana September 18, 2013. Picture taken September 18. Reuters/Srdjan Zivulovic

Tests that can identify viral and bacterial infections have been urgently called for by the Review on Antimicrobial Resistance. The review team said that “just in case” prescribing, which sees a needlessly huge proportion of antibiotic use, can end with such tests. The team was set up in 2014 by British Prime Minister David Cameron – who warned that the world could fall back into the “dark ages” of medicine through antibiotic overuse, causing increased resistance, reports the BBC News.

Diagnostic tests currently require a 36-hour minimum to culture bacteria, confirm the infection and determine the drugs to which it is vulnerable. According to the review team, doctors performing surgeries are under perpetual pressure to conclude the treatment faster, leading to a largely unnecessary use of antibiotics.

The report pointed out the lack of commercial interest among pharmaceutical companies to produce diagnostic tests, which would reduce global prescription of antibiotics and affect their profit margins.

Powerful antibiotics that should be maintained as a reserve are given to patients in many cases. According to the report, patients in the UK receive “last line” treatment for gonorrhoea as a precautionary measure in spite of 80 per cent patients responding to penicillin and over 70 per cent responding to ciprofloxacin – both easily administered with few side effects. Consequently, drug resistant gonorrhoea is on the rise, with a “very real risk that untreatable cases will emerge,” reports the BBC News.

“For far too long we haven't recognised the huge cost to society of increasing resistance when we use antibiotics that we don't need,” said Jim O'Neill, chairman of the review, the BBC News reports. “To avoid the tragedy of 10 million people dying every year by 2050, the world needs rapid diagnostics to improve our use of antibiotics.”

Some diagnostic tests are already available, such as the C-reactive protein blood tests that indicate if the infection will likely be bacterial. Although not perfect, it has been used over the years in Scandinavia and the Netherlands, which have the lowest antibiotic prescription rates in Europe.

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