BMJ  2008;336:787 (12 April), doi:10.1136/bmj.39542.480324.3A

Letters

Over the counter medicines

Don’t include trimethoprim

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) moves to recommend, for the first time, that a systemic antibiotic (trimethoprim) should have its licence reclassified from prescription only medicine (POM) to pharmacy (P) availability.¹ For systemic antibiotics particular concerns exist that do not apply to other medicines.

The use of antibiotics may have an adverse effect not only on the specific patient but also on the public health of the community. Quantifying the relation between antibiotic exposure and resistance is difficult, but a case-control study of risk of an antibiotic resistant Escherichia coli urinary tract infection found that the risk of a trimethoprim resistant infection was significantly associated with a trimethoprim prescription in the preceding month (odds ratio 13.91 (95% confidence interval 3.32 to 58.31) if the prescription was for 7 days, and 4.03 (1.69 to 9.59) if the prescription was for <7 days).²

Because resistance to multiple agents is . . . [Full text of this article]

¹ Cardiff Microbiology (Velindre NHS Trust), University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff CF14 4XW

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Article

Over the counter medicines: proceed with caution

Robin E Ferner and Keith Beard
BMJ 2008 336: 694-696. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

trimethoprim-induced hyperkalaemia is another reason for making trimethoprim subject to prescription

oscar,m jolobe
bmj.com, 11 Apr 2008 [Full text]