To reduce the use of antibiotics in the event of a sore throat, researchers have just developed a simple test based on 5 symptoms. It reduces the consumption of antibiotics by 30%.
A sore throat is not necessarily treated with antibiotics … However, inappropriate use of antibiotics is still too often the case, which promotes resistance. Researchers at the University of Southampton have just developed a simple tool to limit these unnecessary prescriptions. This test called FeverPain, the results of which are presented in the British Medical Journal, is based on a few simple symptoms: fever in the last 24 hours, infection with pus, inflammation of the tonsils, symptoms of the common cold …
“FeverPain has been tested on 631 patients with acute sore throat. Those who had 4 or 5 symptoms were immediately prescribed antibiotics, those who had 2 or 3 were entitled to a deferred prescription, and finally those who had only one symptom, were not entitled to antibiotics .
This protocol reduced the use of antibiotics by 29% and one in three patients in the FeverPAIN group actually saw their sore throat improve rapidly within 2 to 4 days. “These results show that the use of such a clinical score can help better target the use of antibiotics and convince patients that they are not always useful”, considers Professor Paul Little, co-author of this study.
In France, a decree of June 11, 2013 now authorizes pharmacists to perform rapid tests to detect streptococcal angina A. They allow in 7 minutes to know if it is necessary to prescribe antibiotics. In the study which has just appeared in the BMJ, the use of these tests with the FeverPAIN did not have an impact on the consumption of antibiotics.
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