Quack pharmacists around the world are fueling future superbug pandemics
September 24th, 2019Bureau of Investigative Journalism
“……Despite recent attempts by the Cambodian government to crack down on illegal pharmacies, these sellers fly under the radar. Most do not have any qualifications that would allow them to prescribe the cocktail of drugs they give patients, the researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the University of Health Sciences found.
The invisible sellers had many misconceptions about antibiotics and dispensed them incorrectly, researchers said. Most openly admitted they sold them in response to patients’ demands, rather than medical need, leading to overprescription. They believed that antibiotics were necessary for colds and diarrhoea, and sold short courses of the drugs. They also sold antibiotics designed for humans to people wanting to give them to their cattle, chickens and dogs.
One seller said she learned about medicines during the Khmer Rouge regime and incorrectly believed antibiotics should be smeared into wounds. She said: “We break them into small pieces and pour them on wounds on our legs.”
This kind of misuse speeds up the creation of drug resistant bacteria, or superbugs, which are predicted to kill 10 million people by 2050 if no action is taken…..”