How Norway Fought Staph Infections

eldavojohn writes "Studies are showing that Norway's dirtiest hospitals are actually cleaner than most other countries', and the reason for this is that Norwegians stopped taking antibiotics. A number of factors like paid sick leave and now restrictions on advertising for drugs make Norway an anomaly when it comes to diseases like Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). A Norwegian doctor explains, 'We don't throw antibiotics at every person with a fever. We tell them to hang on, wait and see, and we give them a Tylenol to feel better.' Norway is the most MRSA free country in the world. In a country like Japan, where 17,000 die from MRSA every year, 'doctors overprescribe antibiotics because they are given financial incentives to push drugs on patients.'"

Comments

This will work until Big Pharm (tm) patents it.

[IronClad]

I can see it now: Method and process for reducing MRSA infections by not using drugs.

Don't even try it without paying.

Re:The People Problem

[Anonymous Coward]

I take as many antibiotics as possible specifically to breed better super bugs.
And only a time travelling Bruce Willis can stop me now.

Re:This article is so RIGHT

[Mikkeles]

'Doctors prescribe antibiotics not because they are necessary, but because they are heckled by patients who want a prescription to justify their trip to the doctor's office and because they are encouraged by pharmaceutical companies to move their products.'

It appears to me that training in professional ethics should be included in the medical curriculum and perhaps required (and enforced) for licensing.

Re:Stop with the drugs already

[mjwx]

As a physician:

Lies,

That writing was far to neat for any kind of doctor.