Just two years ago more than 25-million courses of antibiotics were prescribed in Canada.
That's the equivalent of almost one prescription for every Canadian age 20 to 69, according to Canadian Institute for Health Information.
Tracy Johnson is the Director of Health Systems Analysis and Emerging Issues at CIHI. She says the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development puts Canada in the "middle of the pack" when it comes to filling antibiotic prescriptions.
"That is about 20 doses, per 100,000 people and it's about the same as the OECD average for a number of countries," she says. "When you look at all the countries as a range we're about the middle of the pack, so we have some work to do."
Health System Analysis and Emerging Issues with the Canadian Institute of Health Information, Tracy Johnson. (Photo courtesy Canadian Institute of Health Information)
As heard on AM800's The Afternoon News, Johnson says more than half of antibiotics are prescribed for things where they aren't even effective.
"The estimate is about three out of five antibiotic prescriptions are for things that are common colds or coughs, likely viral infections, so not really of any use to help you get over those things," says Johnson.
So-called "super bugs" have come about from over-prescribing antibiotics. Johnson says many of those treatment resistant infections are common in hospital settings.
She stresses doctors and patients need to think twice before throwing antibiotics at a problem that can be treated another way.
"We use them because they are so effective and they're not that expensive," says Johnson. "If you use them too often, bacteria particularly are smart and they mutate. So if you're using them for conditions where you don't really need them, you can be changing the bacteria out there from just that use."
Canadian clinicians prescribe 33% more antibiotics than clinicians in countries like the Netherlands, Sweden and Germany.
— with files from Patty Handysides