Are insect bites responsible for the rise in summer flucloxacillin prescribing in United Kingdom general practices?
Fam Pract
; 40(5-6): 753-759, 2023 12 22.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37148202
It can be difficult to know if redness, heat, swelling, and pain from insect bites are due to inflammation or infection. Prescribing unnecessary antibiotics may result in germs becoming resistant to antibiotics when needed. Ten general practices in England and Wales investigated their management of insect bites in the 6 months of April to September 2021 inclusive. There were 355 bites; women presented more often than men, and ages were from 3 to 89 years old, half of them were 3069 years old. People mainly consulted their GP by phone with photos of their bites. Key symptoms were redness, itchness, heat, and pain. More people had itch than were taking antihistamines or using steroid cream. Most people (nearly 7 out of 10) were prescribed an oral antibiotic, usually flucloxacillin, which accounted for about 5% of total flucloxacillin prescribed in the practices. Only 2 in 100 people needed further hospital care. It is likely that general practice clinicians are over-using antibiotics for insect bites and that home management before seeking medical help with painkillers, antihistamines, and steroid creams could be used more. Now that we have baseline data, there is a need to set up studies to prove that these reduce antibiotic usage.
Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Medicina General
/
Mordeduras y Picaduras de Insectos
Límite:
Adolescent
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Adult
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Aged
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Aged80
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Child
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Child, preschool
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Female
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Humans
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Male
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Middle aged
País/Región como asunto:
Europa
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Fam Pract
Año:
2023
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Reino Unido