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null Inappropriate and overuse of antibiotics in fight against tuberculosis in India

Simulated patient study sheds new light on antibiotic use in India

Aug 25, 2016

As a result of the overuse or misuse of antibiotics, antimicrobial resistant superbugs represent an extraordinary threat to global health. This threat is particularly great in India, the world's largest consumer of antibiotics and the country facing the highest burden of tuberculosis (TB) in the world.

In a study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, researchers at McGill University's Faculty of Medicine, the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, The World Bank's Development Research Group, and other partners, used standardized patients (also called ‘simulated or mystery patients') to understand how pharmacies in three Indian cities treated patients presenting with TB symptoms or diagnoses and to determine whether these pharmacies were contributing to the inappropriate use of antibiotics. Read more