European Antibiotic Awareness Day is marked annually on November 18th and a number of initiatives are encouraged by the European Centre for Disease Control to heighten awareness of the problem of microbe resistance through inappropriate antibiotic use.

This year, Norway will focus on the unnecessary use of antibiotics to treat asymptomatic urinary tract infections by general practitioners, hospitals and nursing homes. Antibiotic treatment is often prescribed as a precautionary measure, even though this does not benefit patients and may cause them to be colonised with antibiotic-resistant microbes. National recommendations for treatment of urinary tract infections will be distributed within health care settings after November 18th.

Antibiotic-resistant microbes
Here is a link to a video released by EuroNews which discusses the case of a Norwegian woman who was colonised by antibiotic-resistant microbes following a traffic accident in India. The Norwegian health care system was able to identify the microbes and she was successfully treated with the remaining effective antibiotic against them.

• The threat of antibiotic resistance (video from Euronews)
• About European Antibiotic Awareness Day (ECDC).