Hong Kong doctors urged to run more tests before prescribing antibiotics, as superbugs on the rise
Professor Yuen Kwok-yung from the University of Hong Kong suggests a simple blood test, taking only a minute, could confirm if patients need antibiotics
Hong Kong’s top microbiologist has urged doctors to conduct more tests before prescribing antibiotics, as the city sees a growing number of superbugs.
University of Hong Kong professor Yuen Kwok-yung, who heads the Expert Committee on Antimicrobial Resistance, said the number of Hong Kong superbug cases, where bacteria is not killed by antibiotics, was becoming “quite serious”.
Referring to current statistics, he said about 50 per cent of public hospital patients suffering from Staphylococcus aureus were found to be drug-resistant – much higher than the rate of 10 per cent in the United Kingdom and less than 5 per cent in Sweden.
He said the worrying situation was caused by unnecessary prescriptions of antibiotics.
“For acute respiratory infection, only 10 per cent of cases are caused by bacterial infection. It means 90 per cent of patients don’t require antibiotics,” Yuen said.
Speaking at a seminar on the management of antimicrobial resistance yesterday, the HKU professor said Hong Kong had fallen behind other developed countries, which were already testing patients for bacterial infections before prescribing antibiotics.