Evaluation of Antibiotic Use and Antibiotic Resistance among Iranian People

Background and Objective: Antibiotics are essential treatments, especially in the developing world. The unnecessary use of antibiotics and concomitant rapid growth of antibiotic resistance is a widely acknowledged threat to global health, development, and sustainability. Antibiotic resistance is likely to add further financial strains to the healthcare system, which currently is already facing the challenge of inadequate funding. Iran’s antibiotics consumption was the second highest among 65 countries, according to World Health Organization (WHO) report on Surveillance of Antibiotic Consumption.We performed a broad search in databases to provide a new perspective of irrational antibiotic use frequency and also effect of self-medication with antibiotics in Iran. Materials and Methods: Databases (PubMed Central, Google Scholar and Scopus) were searched for peer-reviewed research published between January 2017 and January 2019. The following terms were used as phrases to search the databases in a way suitable for the specific database: antimicrobial, antibiotics, antibacterial and self-medication. Studies on antivirals, antifungals, antiprotozoal, and topical antimicrobials were excluded. ResultsThe results of study showthat penicillin wasthe most frequently used antibiotic in Iran, accounting for 33% of total consumption. Other frequently used antibiotic groups were other beta-lactam antibacterials and macrolides.Also, the most commonly consumed orally administered antibiotics were included amoxicillin, azithromycin and cefixime. Conclusion: The irrational use of drugs can lead to various side effects. Among the most significant of these are microbial resistances, non-response to treatment, and toxications.The results of this study showed that Iranian people did not possess the required knowledge about the appropriate behavior in the use of antibiotics and, also self-medication with antibiotics is a frequent problem in Iran. It is recommended to do some educational programsin radio, TV and multimedia in order toupgrade their knowledge and behavior.