18 May 2005

Shorter days, turning leaves and the aroma of warm soups and spices signal the approach of winter and the need to use common sense for the common cold. Antibiotics are out this season as they don’t work for common colds.

“Using antibiotics for the wrong reason will only add to the worldwide problem of antibiotic resistance and make antibiotics less useful when they really are needed. Not to mention causing side effects that give greater discomfort,” said Dr Karl Kruszelnicki.

“The best remedy for a common cold is common sense – take it easy, relieve the symptoms and see your doctor or pharmacist if it gets worse,” said Dr Karl.

“Helping kids especially through colds is tough. They sniffle, sneeze and feel miserable. As a parent, I’ve seen my children through a lot of colds and as a doctor, I know that antibiotics won’t make a cold get better faster,” said Dr Karl.

National Prescribing Service Limited (NPS) is trying to cut down the unnecessary use of antibiotics. NPS has developed a new book for young families and carers. The book is called Harvey catches a cold and it closes the case on the common cold and antibiotics.

“When Harvey the wombat 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 – without antibiotics. It is a timely addition to doctors’ surgeries and child care centres for this winter. Common colds are with us and it is important we understand that colds are a viral infection and antibiotics won’t help.” said Dr Karl.

20 million prescriptions were written for antibiotics in 2002-03. Though there is a continuing reduction in the prescribing of antibiotics for upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) in Australia, more than one third of presentations for generalised URTI in general practice still result in an antibiotic prescription. European countries with greater use of antibiotics have recently been 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, along with other campaign information. Parents should see their doctor if their child seems sicker than usual or they have any other concerns.

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, non-profit organisation funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing.