Never thought of that one :)

I hope you’re not a doctor.

Cold and influenza viruses infect cells and cannot infect bacteria. Viruses that infect bacteria do exist but they do not have a direct effect on humans.

So no, there is absolutely no point in prescribing (antibacterial) antibiotics for a viral infection when the person concerned is otherwise healthy.

Antibiotic use is only the visible tip of the maltese iceberg of abuse of medications in general. While there are some medical practitioners who do prefer to prescribe antibiotics when they have a reasonable doubt that the condition may have a bacterial element, many others prefer monitoring the situation and prescribe only if there is a clear need.

Most of the abused medications are ‘over the counter’ medications such as painkillers, cough mixtures, steroid creams and suppliments. Most homes I have visited have drawers full of the stuff and none of it obtained on prescription – and these include also antibiotics bought from a ‘helpful’ pharmacy to keep around ‘just in case’.

I agree that there is the need to educate the population that a healthy lifestyle and proper hygiene can go far in preventing most of the more common medical problems and that they should exercise care in the choice of health professional to assist them in this.

http://www.maltastar.com/pages/r1/ms10dart.asp?a=8445

Buisness? bureaucray ?

The Ministry of Health had sent flyers advising doctors and dentists against the excessive prescriptions and use of antibiotics. As stated somewhere before, some pharmacists should be reined in this campaign.

Riya, yes I know they’re uncle and nephew, but I guess IAN FLEMING does not.

Well, I haven’t seen this survey so I cannot comment on it’s accuracy or about what conclusions can be made from it. What I did read is your article and purely from the information in it, one can reach certain conclusions.

For one it doesn’t take a genius to surmise that if so many Maltese simply shuffle off to the pharmacist to strong-arm him out of their dose of antibiotics one can hardly attribute the 15% difference entirely to the Maltese doctors’ reckless prescription habits. This is an obvious logical conclusion.

You imply that the temperate climate of Malta is less conductive to infections of the common cold than frigid Lapland. The major requirement for catching a cold however is the actual presence of the cold virus and not the cold temperature itself. Given the dusty, windy and overpopulated condition of the Maltese islands, it is far more likely to come across a marauding batch of germs than it is in Lapland – be they viruses or bacteria.

So in a nutshell, yes, it is more likely to get secondary bacterial infections in a country like Malta than in a cleaner, cooler and less densely populated country.

L-uniku haga li ghandek iddawwar m’ghonqok f’dal-pajjiz hija habel…