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NHS patients urged to stop asking for antibiotics in television campaign

New campaign will see patients told to get rest and take paracetamol rather than asking for antibiotics  - PHE
New campaign will see patients told to get rest and take paracetamol rather than asking for antibiotics - PHE

NHS patients will be urged to stop asking GPs for antibiotics in the first ever television campaign to prevent a bacterial ‘apocalypse’.

Around 5,000 people in England die each year because antibiotics have become resistant to some infections and experts predict resistance will kill more people than cancer and diabetes combined within 30 years.

Today Public Health England (PHE) launches its ‘Keep Antibiotics Working’ campaign, warning patients that taking drugs when they are not needed puts them at risk of a more severe or longer infections.

Instead, they urge people to rest up, and take paracetamol.

Professor Paul Cosford, Medical Director at PHE, said: “Antibiotic resistance is not a distant threat, but is in fact one of the most dangerous global crises facing the modern world today.

“Taking antibiotics when you don’t need them puts you and your family at risk of developing infections which in turn cannot be easily treated with antibiotics. Without urgent action from all of us, common infections, minor injuries and routine operations will become much riskier.”

It is the first time that such a campaign has been broadcast on television  - Credit: PHE 
It is the first time that such a campaign has been broadcast on television Credit: PHE

The new advert features cartoon antibiotics singing: “Every time you feel a bit under the weather, don’t always think that we can make you better.”

Professor Dame Sally Davies, Chief Medical Officer, recently warned that an ‘antibiotic resistance apocalypse’ which could end modern medicine, and surgery, chemotherapy and caesareans too dangerous to carry out.

Dame Sally has previously described the threatened loss of antibiotics to the world as on a par with terrorism and climate change.

Speaking ahead of the campaign launch, she said: “Reducing inappropriate use of antibiotics can help us stay ahead of superbugs. The public has a critical role to play and can help by taking collective action.”

Q&A | Antimicrobial resistance
Q&A | Antimicrobial resistance

 Health Minister Steve Brine added: “Following on from the global Call to Action conference held this month, we are asking people to help so we can make sure antibiotics keep working.

 “This government is firmly committed to combatting drug resistant infections and refuses to allow modern medicine to grind to a halt – simple steps can make a huge difference.”