Just as the rest of Europe shies away from antibiotics, a new Eurobarometer study shows that Portugal is getting more and more “hooked”.
In the last year, four out of 10 Portuguese were found to have taken antibiotics at some point – a 5% increase on figures coming out of a similar study four years previously.
And while Portugal ups its reliance on antibiotics, elsewhere in Europe the tendency has been 5% less.
Taking answers across the board, the Portuguese are far more likely to take antibiotics for the flu and for things like sore throats than their European counterparts (22% versus 18% and 15% versus 11% respectively).
Portuguese people are also less aware that antibiotics should not be used to treat viruses – while 40% of Europeans knew antibiotics should not be used for viruses, only 19% of Portuguese answered this question correctly.
As the new study was published, Brussels also revealed new data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control showing a strong increase throughout Europe of gram-negative multiresistant bacteria which do not respond to regular treatment with antibiotics.
European health commissioner Tonio Borg admitted he was “very worried by the fact that antibiotics that used to allow us to treat deadly bacterial infections and save lives are now becoming less and less effective”.
The Eurobarometer study took place in Portugal between May and June, interviewing a total of 1.007 people.
