What The Scientists Are Saying...

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If you are prescribed antibiotics, you should always complete the course – or should you? For years, patients have been told that if they fail to finish the course, the bacteria may become resistant to the drug. But now scientists have suggested that in many cases this advice is wrong, and that instead, patients should stop taking the drugs when they feel better. In a comment piece in the British Medical Journal, ten leading experts say that “the idea that stopping antibiotic treatment early encourages antibiotic resistance is not supported by evidence, while taking antibiotics for longer than necessary increases the risk of resistance”. Though some bacteria can become resistant if antibiotics are not taken for long enough, the ones that most commonly make people ill may become resistant with prolonged exposure. Oxford professor Tim Peto said he was taught about the importance of finishing the course as a student, but that when he looked into the scientific basis of this idea, he found it originated in a speech given by Alexander Fleming in 1945, in which he talked about a patient who didn’t use “enough”