Dr. Trần Phan Chung Thuỷ, president of the Vietnamese Society of Otorhinolaryngology, makes a speech at the “Sore throat and cough - a multi-specialty perspective” which was organised in HCM City on Friday. — Photo Courtesy from seminar organiser

HCM CITY — Along with an appropriate and effective antibiotic use strategy, raising patient awareness is very important to reduce antibiotic resistance, a scientific conference, themed “Sore throat and cough - a multi-specialty perspective”, discussed in HCM City on Friday.

At the conference, which was organised by the Vietnam Medical Association with the support of Reckitt Vietnam, Dr. Trần Phan Chung Thuỷ, president of Vietnamese Society of Otorhinolaryngology, stressed in an opening speech that antibiotic resistance is a major threat to global health with a high mortality rate.

Thuỷ cited a report from the World Health Organisation (WHO), which estimates that from 2020 to 2023, there were 296,681 deaths in Việt Nam due to antibiotic resistance, while Việt Nam ranks second among countries in the Western Pacific region and 11th in the world on antibiotic consumption.

Sore throat and cough are two common symptoms in ear, nose and throat (ENT) diseases and are also subject to antibiotic abuse because patients could not have access to proper treatment. This has contributed to increasing antibiotic resistance, Thuỷ told the conference.

Statistics from the WHO in Việt Nam show that up to 50 per cent of antibiotics are used inappropriately in hospitals while 88-97 per cent of pharmacies sell antibiotics without a prescription from a doctor.

Specifically in Việt Nam, pharmacists are the first ones who communicate with patients about their health matters. Therefore, pharmacists play a key role in offering guidance and raising awareness in order to help patients comply with treatment and use antibiotics properly, the conference heard.

“Every pharmacist is seen as a soldier in the fight to reduce antibiotic resistance. Proper advice from pharmacists when communicating with patients at their pharmacies will help improve compliance with antibiotic use, leading to effective antibiotic conservations,” Thuỷ said.

Sharing the same point of view, Dr. Bùi Thị Hương Quỳnh, deputy director of the pharmacy department at HCM City’s Thống Nhất Hospital, told the conference that the rate of antibiotic resistance before and after the COVID-19 outbreak was generally high. 

“While many drug-resistant strains hit the street, there are not many new antibiotics being researched and developed. Therefore, antibiotics should only be used with a diagnosis of infection. Moreover, antibiotics should be used correctly, in the right dose, and for the right time,” she said.

Sore throat is a common disease in Việt Nam with more than 10 million cases per year. 

Among adults suffering from a sore throat, nearly half of them have a sore throat three to four times a year. Meanwhile, cough is a common symptom with 30 million cases each year, with viruses being the cause of most cases of sore throat.

To solve the problem, doctors discussed solutions that do not include antibiotics.

Dr. Trần Viết Luân, head of the ENT department at Phạm Ngọc Thạch University of Medicine, said using antibiotics could increase the risk of antibiotic resistance and cause adverse effects such as diarrhea, rashes, allergies, etc.

“Sore throats are mostly caused by viruses, so antibiotic use is ineffective. Using flurbiprofen lozenge is a better choice and will have pain-relieving and anti-inflammatory effects. The lozenges dissolve in about five minutes, continuously coating the inflamed mucous membranes in the throat with flurbiprofen while soothing the throat. The retention time of flurbiprofen in the pharyngeal cavity can be up to three hours,” he said.

Meanwhile, for the treatment of phlegm cough, ambroxol lozenges are effective in treating this illness because they have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, local anesthetic effects and have higher bioavailability than the oral form.

A series of “Sore throat and cough - A multi-specialty perspective” conferences are being organised by the Vietnam Medical Association with the support of Reckitt Vietnam to help doctors and pharmacists get useful knowledge.

"Reckitt in collaboration with the Vietnam Medical Association organised the event with the aim of not only providing doctors and pharmacists helpful knowledge but also creating opportunities for discussion and enhancing consulting skills, thereby supporting the health workforce to play a more important role in protecting the public health, contributing to antibiotics conservation as well as raising new, effective solutions in the treatment of sore throat and cough," said Sajjapong Saphakkul, General Director of Reckitt Vietnam.

In order to spread the message of reducing antibiotic resistance, a same conference will be organised in Hà Nội on September 26. — VNS