Antibiotic abuse killing thousands in Thailand

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Antibiotic abuse killing thousands in Thailand

Tan Hui Yee

Thailand Correspondent

 

You can buy antibiotics without a prescription at pharmacies - alongside stalls selling fruit and rice. Industrial farms in the region feed the drug to fish. The result: an invasion of drug-resistant superbugs.

 

BANGKOK • In a softly-lit suite of Bangkok's Praram 9 Hospital, Mr Songchai (not his real name) slowly scrawls out his thoughts on paper. Five months in coma have left him with throat muscles so weak he needs a breathing tube, which reduces his words to hollow rasps. Just months ago, his heart was straining to pump blood through a body under attack by a strain of severe and drug-resistant bacteria.

 

"The doctor told my wife to be prepared for my death," says Mr Songchai, who spoke to The Straits Times on condition of anonymity.

 

To save his life, doctors gave him the strongest antibiotic available. It helped him pull through, but also destroyed his kidneys. The 66-year-old retired marketing director now has to undergo thrice-weekly dialysis for the rest of his life.

 

Mr Songchai is lucky. An average of two people die every hour from multidrug-resistant bacterial infections in Thailand, according to a landmark study funded by the kingdom's health ministry and Britain's Wellcome Trust, and published in September.

 

Full story: http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/antibiotic-abuse-killing-thousands-in-thailand

 

-- THE STRAITS TIMES 2016-11-14

[jerojero]

Not surprised. Wife's family used to take penicillin every time they caught a cold or sore throat, until I emphatically explained the difference between bacteria and viruses....and penicillin useless against viruses.

[balo]

They just don't know and the doctors here  will supply you with antibiotics even if you don't need it. It's a shame whats going on in this country .  

[trogers]

I wouldn't be surprised that these readily available antibiotics are locally produced too...and have been for decades!

 

Next, fissionable materials...

Edited November 13, 2016 by trogers

[fruitman]

At the pharmacy i first ask for somebody who can speak english, then i ask for international medicines which are imported. Then i ask for the description which they rarely have (in english of course since it's international).

 

Then i read the storage info to find out they have to be stored cool, in a fridge which they don't even have.

[sharecropper]

This comes as no surprise. I have been railing against the traditional drugs cocktail handed out to anyone going into a pharmacy or even a hospital here - It's like they have no clue, so let's prescribe everything - anti inflammatories, paracetamol, antibiotics - three stock medications usually dished out by the bucketload.

[ace]

Oh,  they have a clue.  As usual ,  $$$.  200baht for paracetamol maybe more,  etc.  That's why Thais will go to the pharmacy and just buy a handful of antibiotics instead . . . 

[FlorC]

And this story is about people .... now tell me again how to trust a Thai vet with your cat or dog ...

[fruitman]

1 minute ago, FlorC said:

And this story is about people .... now tell me again how to trust a Thai vet with your cat or dog ...

 

They probably treat the dog better than a human being.

 

When a dog sleeps on the middle of the road they all avoid it, when a motocycle drives on the left side they will push him off the road.

[FlorC]

If you let them neuter your pets , they want to keep them at the vets for at least 5 days ... you know , to pump 'em full of antibiotics to fight the infections of their unhygenic operation.

[edwinchester]

I recently had a torn tendon in my arm, went to the pharmacy for some painkillers and the guy wanted to prescribe some amoxicillin too.

Has a cold last week and wanted a decongestant, pharmacist wanted to sell some amoxicillin.

For whatever reason they can't help themselves.

[jonclark]

The big issue here is that most doctors are paid a % commission by the hospitals they work for to prescribe antibiotics. So its basically sales - and from a business perspective its a complete cash cow. An unsuspecting and trusting albeit sick patient / customer who will blindly follow the doctors orders and doctors who can and want to bump up their annual / monthly commission by adding in as many 'sales' aka prescriptions as possible. - Listen to the cash register ring!!

 

If this epidemic is to be solved then 'the sales' aspect of medicine needs to be resolved, both in government and private hospital. 

 

The only way I can possible imagine this to happen is if antibiotic become a restricted drug on which no commission can be paid and one which requires signing off at several levels before the prescription is approved. This would also mean antibiotics could not be sold as over the counter medications. 

[yellowboat]

Every time when one goes to the hospital one either gets a pain killer or an anti biotic .   Never took them.   Your body is more than capable to fight off most ailments.  Handing them out like candy is disgraceful.

[rkidlad]

There's a good documentary about abusing antibiotics on Netflix. They also use antibiotics on pigs and cows, etc, to help them grow more quickly and stay alive. Bad news.

 

I remember going to a pharmacy asking for a cream for small rash around my mouth. Lady pulled out amoxicillin. Every time my missus goes to the hospital she brings a big bag of drugs.

 

I think I'd like to open my own department in a hospital for people with headaches. I think people like seeing the doctor because it makes them feel special and the centre of attention. 

[SpokaneAl]

I am always amazed at the way locals and family members believe that it is okay to pass drugs left over from a prescription to other friends and/or family members. Most have no idea of the makeup or the correct use for those drugs.

[RichardColeman]

Maybe they heavily fear STD's !

[curtklay]

Thais are pill happy; they think there is a pill for anything and everything.

A Thai doctor told me, "If I don't prescribe some pills, my patients think I'm a lousy doctor".

[chasntong]

4 hours ago, jerojero said:

Not surprised. Wife's family used to take penicillin every time they caught a cold or sore throat, until I emphatically explained the difference between bacteria and viruses....and penicillin useless against viruses.

 

 

 

Your right of course but to get a Thai to believe you is almost a  miracle, I know my wife believes nothing I tell her.

[silent]

4 hours ago, jerojero said:

Not surprised. Wife's family used to take penicillin every time they caught a cold or sore throat, until I emphatically explained the difference between bacteria and viruses....and penicillin useless against viruses.

 

 

 

They listened and you were able to teach the differences with examples? 

[jaltsc]

“Antibiotic abuse killing thousands in Thailand”

 

And...It starts at a very young age. I have witnessed mothers following a coughing child (2-3 years of age), and every time the child coughed, she shoved a spoonful of liquid antibiotics down his throat. She had no idea that she was building up his immunity to the effects of antibiotics, and if he developed a major infection in the future, there would be nothing that could be done to treat him. Although I think that many people can regulate their intake of medications, there is a reason that doctors' prescriptions are required in many countries. Making access to antibiotics this easy sets up a national health crisis. 

 

Edited November 14, 2016 by jaltsc

[Suttisan]

He wants to get out of rama 9 hospital,  I was told I most likely had a brain tumor by those quacks,  after an expensive scan it turned out I had a nerve issue in my back. They also tried to prescribe me antidepressants for no reason. 

[faraday]

I take Amlodipine 10mg once a day.

 

When I measured my bp about 2 weeks ago & it was higher, I went to see a doc....

He told me to take the Amlodopine 3 times a day!

Don't know if he was just stupid or very stupid.

 

[dotpoom]

4 hours ago, balo said:

They just don't know and the doctors here  will supply you with antibiotics even if you don't need it. It's a shame whats going on in this country .  

Would you be suggesting that doctor's in the West don't do the same. I'v watched umpteen documentaries on how the drug companies pay doctors (and give grand holidays) to prescribe all sorts of s - - - to unknowing patients.

  Isn't prescribed drugs one of the leading causes of death...up in the first 3 if I'm not mistaken. 

Edited November 14, 2016 by dotpoom

[alex8912]

25 minutes ago, chasntong said:

Your right of course but to get a Thai to believe you is almost a  miracle, I know my wife believes nothing I tell her.

Ah ha. I just figured it out. He never said his wife was Thai. So maybe his British wife and family believed him.  No way a Thai wife and their whole family would believe a foreigner even if every fact was clearly explained. Now I can understand. 

[elwood]

3 minutes ago, dotpoom said:

Would you be suggesting that doctor's in the West don't do the same. I'v watched umpteen documentaries on how the drug companies pay doctors (and give grand holidays) to prescribe all sorts of s - - - to unknowing patients.

  Isn't prescribed drugs one of the leading causes of death...up in the first 3 if I'm not mistaken. 

Yes, Thai doctors dole out antibiotics far too readily, but this is an international problem.

Earlier this year  the UK government announced new measures to force doctors to reduce antibiotic prescriptions by half. Also there were articles fairly recently that in the USA  something like 30% of prescribed antibiotics are prescribed unnecessarily.

[Jimbo2014]

4 hours ago, jerojero said:

Not surprised. Wife's family used to take penicillin every time they caught a cold or sore throat, until I emphatically explained the difference between bacteria and viruses....and penicillin useless against viruses.

 

 

 

 

Im impressed that you managed to explain the difference.  Im still battling to explain that rain on the head alone doesn't cause people to get sick and that our child doesn't need a psychologist every time he does something naughty.

[silent]

30 minutes ago, rkidlad said:

There's a good documentary about abusing antibiotics on Netflix. They also use antibiotics on pigs and cows, etc, to help them grow more quickly and stay alive. Bad news.

 

I remember going to a pharmacy asking for a cream for small rash around my mouth. Lady pulled out amoxicillin. Every time my missus goes to the hospital she brings a big bag of drugs.

 

I think I'd like to open my own department in a hospital for people with headaches. I think people like seeing the doctor because it makes them feel special and the centre of attention. 

Have you ever been successful getting information on those drugs to double check from  an in country website?  It seems everywhere it's still the less people know the better.

[lamecn]

Even in Europe doctors are prescribing antibiotics without cultivating the bacteria, to check what kind of antibiotic is needed. Once you've started the use of an antibiotic, and it doesn't work, the doctors are "blindfolded" in their attempt trying to find the right product. Insist on having the bacteria cultivated and tested against different antibiotics before you start a treatment. It might save your life.

[rkidlad]

34 minutes ago, silent said:

Have you ever been successful getting information on those drugs to double check from  an in country website?  It seems everywhere it's still the less people know the better.

I always google the drugs my missus brings back. I haven't used antibiotics for years. I always try to fight off illness naturally. 

[monkey4u]

1 hour ago, FlorC said:

If you let them neuter your pets , they want to keep them at the vets for at least 5 days ... you know , to pump 'em full of antibiotics to fight the infections of their unhygenic operation.

What a load of crap

You must have a great vet

I feel sorry for your pets