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Antibiotics to Alzheimer’s Patients Could Mean Superbugs for Others
Antibiotic overuse contributes to the rise of superbugs, so experts have been calling on doctors to curb the liberal prescribing of antibiotics in many types of patients, including children with earaches and adults with sore throats.
Nursing homes often harbour drug-resistant bacteria, and residents can spread dangerous infections when they are admitted to hospitals. It is in such a backdrop the new study has come, suggesting a more restricted prescription of antibiotics, particularly when the patient is known to be nearing death.
“Advanced dementia is a terminal illness," said study co-author Dr. Susan Mitchell, a senior scientist with the Harvard-affiliated Hebrew Senior Life Institute for Aging Research in Boston. "If we substituted 'end-stage cancer' for 'advanced dementia,' I don't think people would have any problem understanding this."
Many experts, including the Alzheimer's Association, consider Alzheimer's and other dementias to be fatal brain diseases. Patients die of infections such as pneumonia and other complications, but the underlying cause is damage to brain cells.
In the study, more than 200 people with advanced dementia from Boston-area nursing homes were followed for 18 months or until their deaths. Almost half died during that time. All the patients failed to recognize loved ones, had stopped speaking, were unable to walk or feed themselves and were incontinent.
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