Antibiotic Prescriptions Add Up to Overuse

U.S. doctors write enough prescriptions each year to provide antibiotics to 4 out of 5 Americans, a new study shows. That’s so many that the drugs probably are being overused, experts told the Associated Press (AP). Excess use helps bacteria to become resistant to the drugs. The new study used a national drug database. Numbers come from 2010. In that year, health care professionals wrote 258 million prescriptions for antibiotics. The population was about 309 million. That’s about 833 prescriptions for every 1,000 people. But the numbers varied greatly from state to state. West Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee had the highest rates. About 1,200 prescriptions were written for every 1,000 people in those states. In Alaska, Oregon and California, the numbers were 600 or below. Experts said Southern states may have more infections than other states.