Question: What is the most effective antibiotic there Is in Ireland today?

Katie Fala answered on 18 Nov 2019:

Great question. It depends on the bacteria that you’re trying to kill as some antibiotics are more effective against certain species of bacteria.

Co-amoxiclav (Augmentin is one brand name) is the most commonly prescribed antibiotic in Ireland, it is a combination of a penicillin-type antibiotic (amoxicillin) with an acid (clavulanic acid) which is added in to stop the bacteria from breaking down the antibiotic before it can take effect and kill them. However it is not effective against all bacteria, there are rising rates of resistance to it (probably due to how often it is prescribed) and because it is broad spectrum as well as killing the ‘bad’ bacteria causing the infection it will also kill ‘good’ bacteria on your skin but especially in your gut.

Carbapenems like meropenem are last line antibiotics used against bacteria which are resistant to all other antimicrobials (you may have heard about CPE superbugs in the news over the past few years), so in a sense these are the most ‘effective’ antibiotics. However resistance is emerging even to this antibiotic – there were 564 cases reported in Ireland last year…

Bacteria are becoming resistant to antibiotics quicker than we can discover and develop new ones – it is projected that there could be 10 million deaths per year by 2050 due to antimicrobial resistance. It is important that we continue to work on discovering and developing new ones alongside antimicrobial stewardship – this means only using antibiotics when they are necessary (i.e. not for viral or fungal infections) and improving how we diagnose bacterial infections as well as getting better at preventing infections through hygiene, vaccinations and trying to keep ourselves and our microbiomes as resilient and healthy as possible.