Mexico cracks down on self-prescribed antibiotics

[n2doc]

Pharmacies technically can't sell the drugs without a prescription, but most do anyway. They're about to face tighter oversight and stricter fines. H1N1 helped spur the changes.




By Ken Ellingwood and Cecilia Sanchez, Los Angeles Times
June 14, 2010


Reporting from Mexico City — The instructions aren't on any box of medicine, but Mexicans know them all the same: At the first sign of sore throat or fever, race to the pharmacy for antibiotics. Take as you see fit.

Even though the law requires a prescription for antibiotics, pharmacists in Mexico seldom ask for one before handing them over. And they hand them over by the boatload: nearly 2 billion doses of antibiotics a year, enough for two full courses of treatment for almost each of the nation's 110 million people.

Such handy access is easier than schlepping to the doctor or a crowded public clinic. But Mexican health officials fear so much self-medication poses a threat to public health by discouraging real medical care and promoting the development of bacteria that resist treatment by antibiotics.


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http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-fg-mexico-antibiotics-20100614,0,6330664.story

[MineralMan]

1. A couple of decades ago, I traveled to France as an oboist

in an orchestra that accompanied a choir doing concerts here and there in Europe. When we got to France, I discovered that I was catching a very nasty chest cold and had developed an ugly cough. Coughing and playing the oboe at a performance doesn't work out well.

So, I dropped into a chemist's shop near our hotel and used my very best high school French to ask the nice person behind the counter for a cough syrup, very strong. I got a brown bottle. It worked great. I could take it an hour before a performance and the cough just flat stopped. At some point, I wondered what was in this miraculous cough syrup.

So, I read the label. The active ingredient was morphine sulphate. That explained it pretty well, but did lead me to pay closer attention to the dosing. It was not Robitussin.

[Warpy]

2. Opiates are great at stopping a cough

If you ever get the problem here, ask for Tussionex by name. It's prescription and it's heavy duty. It will stop an erupting volcano. One of the two active ingredients is hydrocodone. The other is an antihistamine. If you take it when you're not playing a gig, it will knock you out for a few hours of badly needed sleep. Dosage is once every 12 hours, although I've had it prescribed every 6 when I've been in real trouble.

Over the counter stuff here in the US contains a suppressant too mild to do much of anything plus an expectorant, something that works against the cough suppression.

Only prescription stuff will work. Tussionex works the best. Your doctor is your best resource on this stuff, and only he can determine if you need something that heavy duty, of course. But if you need to stop a cough in its tracks to do your job, suggest that to him.

[MineralMan]

3. I'm no longer playing the oboe, so it's not really an issue.

I was amazed that a morphine-based cough syrup was available OTC in France.

[Warpy]

4. Other countries treat adults as adults

The nanny state in the US is just plain unbelievable.

Fucking moralists.

[grasswire]

5. hear hear

I am a medication libertarian. By that, I mean that I believe most meds should be freely available for purchase with counseling provided by pharmacy. The idea that the government sets up a system where you must pay for a licensed person to sell and dispense the med is medieval, IMO. Yes, people scream about the harm it could do if people abuse the availability. But we let people drive cars (potential killing machines) and operate chainsaws.

A family member travels to Eastern Europe regularly -- she says that anything is available OTC there.