WHO's new recommendations on use of antibiotics to counter superbug infections

New Delhi: Amid increasing problems with antibiotic resistant infections, the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Tuesday published a new classification of antibiotics that aims to fight drug resistance, while also adding new medicines for treating hepatitis C, HIV, tuberculosis and cancer.

The WHO Model list of essential medicines for 2017 also came out with recommendations on which antibiotics to use for common infections and which to preserve for the most serious circumstances.

The updated list adds 30 medicines for adults and 25 for children, and specifies new uses for 9 already-listed products, bringing the total to 433 drugs deemed essential for addressing the most important public health needs.

"Safe and effective medicines are an essential part of any health system," said Dr Marie-Paule Kieny, WHO Assistant Director-General for Health Systems and Innovation. "Making sure all people can access the medicines they need, when and where they need them, is vital to countries’ progress towards universal health coverage."

Grouping antibiotics into three categories – ACCESS, WATCH and RESERVE – the new "essential medicines list" includes 39 antibiotics for 21 common syndromes.

WHO recommends that antibiotics in the ACCESS group, for example, amoxicillin - - a widely-used antibiotic to treat infections such as pneumonia -- be available at all times as treatments for a wide range of common infections.

The WATCH group includes drugs like, ciprofloxacin (used to treat cystitis - a type of urinary tract infection and upper respiratory tract infections such as, bacterial sinusitis and bacterial bronchitis) and its use should be dramatically reduced to avoid further development of resistance, it said.

The third group, RESERVE, includes antibiotics such as colistin and some cephalosporins that should be considered last-resort options, and used only in the most severe circumstances when all other alternatives have failed, such as for life-threatening infections due to multidrug-resistant bacteria.

WHO experts have also added 10 antibiotics to the list for adults, and 12 for children.

However, the WHO also said Roche's well-known flu drug oseltamivir, marketed as Tamiflu, may be removed from the list unless new information supports its use in seasonal and pandemic influenza outbreaks.

According to Dr Suzanne Hill, Director of Essential Medicines and Health Products, the new WHO list should help health system planners and prescribers ensure people who need antibiotics have access to them, and ensure they get the right one, so that the problem of resistance doesn’t get worse.