The findings show that doctors require more training about the proper use of antiviral and antibiotic drugs in treating flu patients, the researchers said. Unnecessary use of antibiotics contributes to the development of antibiotic resistance.
“Our results suggest that during 2012-13, antiviral medications were under prescribed and antibiotics may have been inappropriately prescribed to a large proportion of the outpatients with influenza,” wrote Dr. Fiona Havers and colleagues from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control Prevention and several other institutions.
The researchers analyzed data from about 6,800 patients with flu symptoms seen at five outpatient care centers in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Texas, Wisconsin and Washington State during the 2012-13 flu season. The team focused on prescription records for two antiviral drugs for flu – oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza) – and three widely used antibiotics (amoxicillin-clavulanate, amoxicillin, and azithromycin).
Antiviral drugs were prescribed to only 19% of patients who were at high risk for flu complications and saw a primary care provider within two days of their flu symptoms emerging. And only 16% of patients with laboratory-confirmed flu got oseltamivir or zanamivir.
