Nearly half of all adults wrongly believe that antibiotics can kill viruses.
The 2017 Healthy Ireland Survey of 7,500 people has revealed that accurate understanding is lowest among those aged 75 and older.
- 92% indicate that they are happy to trust their GP’s advice in relation to antibiotics.
- 67% correctly disagree that antibiotics can work on most coughs and colds, however this declines to 61% of those aged 65 to 74 and 55% of those aged 75 and older.
- 90% are aware that if taken too frequently, antibiotics may not work in the future.
- 95% correctly agree that a course of antibiotics should always be completed, and
85% correctly disagree that once you start to feel better you should stop taking the antibiotic.
Of the total survey of 39% were prescribed antibiotics in the last year, 33% were men and 44% for women. Medical card holders were more likely to be prescribed antibiotics (46%) while non-medical card holders were 33%.
To link to the Healthy Ireland survey 2017 click here.
To see the HSE video and advice on antibiotics click here