18 May 2005

Shorter daylight hours and an increase in the sound of sniffles in the GP surgery signals the coming winter and the annual reminder by National Prescribing Service Limited (NPS) for consumers to use common sense when dealing with a common cold.

The 2005 common colds need common sense campaign aims to maintain the momentum of a downward trend in antibiotic prescribing and reduce the problem of antibiotic resistance. The campaign is advising people with common colds to take it easy, relieve the symptoms and see their doctor or pharmacist if it gets worse.

Increasing its focus on families this year, NPS has developed a children’s book, Harvey catches a cold, to address the consumer belief that antibiotics are appropriate to treat common colds.

“Harvey catches a cold tells the story of Harvey the wombat who catches a cold but gets better in a week without antibiotics. When Harvey catches a cold, he rests, keeps his fluids up and treats his symptoms. Harvey gets better and is playing with his friends within a week, the normal duration of a cold. The message for parents and carers is very useful to show what they can do for children’s colds and when to see a doctor,” said Dr Richard Abbott, GP.

“There is a downward trend in antibiotic prescribing for upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) in Australia, however more than one third of presentations for generalised URTI in general practice still result in an antibiotic prescription. 22% of Australians still believe antibiotics can treat a common cold,” said Dr Abbott.

“Consumer testing suggested that by reading the story to their child, parents may take in the campaign messages and may be less likely to want to use antibiotics for treating their child’s cold. NPS hopes that making this book available for parents to read to their child while in surgery patient waiting areas will help GPs to negotiate antibiotic use with patients,” said Dr Lynn Weekes, CEO of NPS.

Of concern is the result of recent studies in Europe that show a change in prescribing patterns from the narrowrange antibiotics to the new broad-range antibiotics. Also countries with greater use of antibiotics were shown to have higher levels of antibiotic resistance.

Harvey catches a cold is being distributed nationwide to child care centres and doctors’ surgeries and is available online at www.gottacold.com. GPs are also being provided with a range of resources to help with patient education.

For more information visit www.gottacold.com.

ENDS

National Prescribing Service Limited (NPS) is a member-based organisation providing accurate, balanced, evidence-based information and services to health professionals and the community on Quality Use of Medicines (QUM). To achieve this we work in partnership with GPs, pharmacists, specialists, other health professionals, government, pharmaceutical industry, consumer organisations and the community. NPS is an independent, nonprofit organisation funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing.