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Women should be able to get antibiotics for urinary tract infection without a prescription

BMJ 2015; 351 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.h3441 (Published 14 July 2015) Cite this as: BMJ 2015;351:h3441

Rapid Response:

Re: Women should be able to get antibiotics for urinary tract infection without a prescription

Sir,

We are absolutely not amused that you call that antibiotics shall available in pharmacies without a prescription, such as OTC medicines. In times of raising antibiotic resistance in human and veterinary medicine it's the wrong signal. The WHO and OIE are fighting for awareness raising amongst doctors, vets, farmers, and patients for the prescription requirement of antibiotics and for antibiotic stewardship. Among other things, the rational use of antibiotics will best be ensured if over-the-counter sales of antibiotics are completely avoided. It is unacceptable, that a cost calculation shall affected the status of antibiotics. We would find it intolerable that patients shall be able to purchase antibiotics without a professional diagnosis.

With best regards,
Heike and Jürgen

Competing interests: No competing interests

17 July 2015
Jürgen Dr. Wallmann
Monitoring of antimicrobial resistance
Dr. Heike Kaspar
Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety, Mauerstraße 39-42, 10117 Berlin, Germany