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MPH’s Schaffner to focus on specific treatment course based on type of infection before recommendation change

Posted by on Thursday, July 27, 2017 in News .

For the last 75 years, people with a bacterial infection have been told it is essential to finish all of an antibiotic prescription, usually seven to 10 days, to keep from getting sick again. But British researchers are now saying that patients may not need to “complete the course,” that it may actually be contributing to antibiotic resistance. "

We should study each type of infection with the hopes of having more specific treatment courses and changing recommendations," says Dr. William Schaffner, Chairman of the department of preventative medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville.