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New analysis by researchers at Oxford Population Health, Imperial College London, and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has found that respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections lead to 640,000 antibiotic prescriptions a year. The study highlights that interventions to reduce RSV infections, including the new UK vaccination programme, could help reduce antibiotic prescribing and therefore antibiotic resistance.

The study, published as a preprint, was funded by the Medical Research Foundation and National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).

RSV is a viral infection and for most people it leads to mild respiratory symptoms. However, in more vulnerable groups such as babies and older people, it can cause more serious illness and hospitalisation. While antibiotics do not work for viruses, they are sometimes prescribed in primary care as it is often not possible to determine if the infection is bacterial or viral.

The research team examined data from general practice antibiotic prescriptions alongside laboratory-confirmed respiratory infections from 2015 to 2018 with the aim of understanding the proportion of antibiotic prescriptions made in English general practices attributable to RSV.

The data shows that approximately 2.1% of antibiotic prescriptions were attributable to RSV infections, with the largest number prescribed to those over 75 years old. The highest rate of prescribing was in infants.

Read the full story on the Nuffield Department of Population Health (NDPH) website.