Antibiotics on sale on the Internet without prescription
Antibiotics are easily available online and without a prescription, a new study finds, a potentially unexplored source of overuse of this kind of medication.
Researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina did simple Google and Yahoo! searches to find more than 130 vendors selling pencillin, erythromycin, even Cipro online. One-third sold antibiotics without a prescription, while the others just required someone to fill out a medical history to get the drugs. It is illegal to sell antibiotics without a prescription in the United States.
Antibiotic resistance is a big worry in the medical and research communities. Many are concerned that antibiotics are over-prescribed. So-called "superbugs" have been popping up, dangerous bacteria that are resistant to many forms of antibiotics, something that comes with their overuse. Educational campaigns have been directed, according to the study, to doctors who prescribe antibiotics, cautioning them to use the drugs more judiciously.
The paper, which appears in the September/October issue of the Annals of Family Medicine, suggests that these sales mean there is "a potentially large pool of antibiotics in the United States that ... may be contributing to antibiotic resistance." The paper found that most of the antibiotics sold over the Internet didn't arrive for more than a week (after the window of their usefulness in many cases) and often orders are larger than would be needed by a single individual.
"This reservoir of antibiotics is likely to be used inappropriately -- the Web sites promote self-diagnosis and self-medication, and antibiotics are likely to be used in inappropriate dosages," the researchers write.
"The general structure of the transactions," they conclude, "encourages self-medication and low quality of care."
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