The Ministry of Public Health has been urged to delete throat lozenges which contain neomycin antibiotic from the list of antibiotics on ground that the antibiotic does not treat sore throat but tends to lead to drug resistance microbes.

The Drug Watch Organization, the Thai Health Organization and a network of medical practitioners of Chulalongkorn and Mahidol universities and the Foundation for Consumers jointly staged a press conference on Thursday to warn the public of the danger of the overuse of antibiotics.

Dr Niyada Kiatying-angsulee of Drug Watch Organization disclosed that 88,000 Thais are now infected with bacteria which are resistant to antibiotics each year and, of these, 20,000-30,000 die each year with antibiotic resistance illnesses.

She blamed overuse of or improper use of antibiotics for leading to resistance problem.

Dr Niyada said that 80 percent of sore throat cases were not caused by bacteria and, hence, the application of anti-biotic medication would not help cure or ease the illness because sore throat cases were most caused by virus.

Also, she said that 80 percent of diarrhea cases were caused by virus and, hence, the use of antibiotics would not help much but would, instead, cause the bacteria to become more resistant to antibiotics.

Dr Pison Chongtrakul of the medical science faculty of Chulalongkorn Unversity noted that lozenges which contain antibiotics such as neomycin should be deleted from the drug list because neomycin does not react to bacteria.

Throat lozenges which contain neomycin should be removed from drug list - Thai PBS English News