Antibiotics - Keeping the miracle alive

[Extract]
In February 1941, Howard florey’s team in Oxford had purified enough penicillin to treat the first patient – Albert Alexander, a young policeman with abscesses across his face and body. Intravenous penicillin resulted in a dramatic improvement within 24 hours, but the supply ran out after five days, and Constable Alexander died a few weeks later. That treatment miracle, and supplying running out, mirrors our growing crisis of antibiotic resistance today. Antibiotic stewardship sits at the front line of the global challenge of antibiotic resistance. This issue of Australian Journal of General Practice includes a series of articles on antibiotic stewardship in primary care, and what might be done at policy, general practice and patient levels.