GPs/doctors on Twitter

[Staronmytree]

I’ve just seen a thread on Twitter made up of mostly GPs saying that this strep A situation has been unnecessarily blown out of all proportion and that they’re having (understandably) anxious parents coming to them demanding antibiotics when their child has a virus.

An A&E doctor said there are queues out of the door of parents with young children, most of which are fine, just with a seasonal cold. And that more important cases aren’t being seen. One also said he’d had an email to lower the threshold when prescribing antibiotics now.

I just thought this was an interesting perspective and the opposite to what we’ve heard in the media.

The number of deaths so for isn't any higher than in previous years BUT with a massive caveat that the number of deaths are way way higher than what they would expect at this time of year - so expect the number of cases/deaths to get worse. That is what everyone is worrying about.

Very low immunity due to lockdowns. As a parent of a child who has had a very serious case of sepsis, despite being told by 3 doctors that it was just a virus I am firmly in the camp of better safe than sorry.

The really worrying bit is that the media overhype is pushing scared parents to demand antibiotics for viruses and thus supplies of antibiotics are running low, and there won't be enough for those who do really need them.

Definitely has been blown out of proportion. A lot of parents will be worried if their child just has a fever. Strep A has always been around and children have always been treated for it. There is no reason to be more cautious. Just stick to your natural motherly instinct and doctors advice.

antibiotic resistance, running low on antiB stocks, kids hate the taste of the antiBs so won't have it, swabs keep coming back negative and... services overwhelmed. Just a few problems.

But you can't really blame parents. They were TOLD to assume the worse. (sigh)

I don't blame the parents. I do blame the media.

One also said he’d had an email to lower the threshold when prescribing antibiotics now.

This is the important bit. UKHSA wouldn’t do this lightly. They have advised doctors to do this because they are worried.

The shortage of relevant antibiotics happened before this. It’s made worse by lots of children needing it but there was already a global shortage.