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Comment by goodpoint | Hacker News Reader

Routine use of antibiotics is already prohibited in EU and most developed countries.

Unfortunately, in terms of antifungals both the EU and US are still using tons of them in the context of agriculture [1] which is contributing to drug resistance of human pathogenic fungi [2].

The references below focus on Aspergillus, but there are many such example in other fungal pathogens.

[1] Impact of the use of azole fungicides, other than as human medicines, on the development of azole‐resistant Aspergillus spp. https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/efsajournal/pub/9200

[2] Celia-Sanchez BN, Mangum B, Gómez Londoño LF, Wang C, Shuman B, Brewer MT, Momany M. Pan-azole- and multi-fungicide-resistant Aspergillus fumigatus is widespread in the United States. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2024 Apr 17;90(4):e0178223. doi: 10.1128/aem.01782-23. Epub 2024 Apr 1. PMID: 38557086; PMCID: PMC11022549.

How routine is routine ? I'm sure the agro industry will have a very broad interpretation of that...

Roughly preventative use.

The US is a lot of space and India is a lot of people and animals. More than twice the land and around three times the population of Europe.

In most EU countries it is very hard to reach a doctor in decent time unless you can afford to pay a lot.

So you can suffer for weeks with an infection and high fever because the pharmacies won't sell you antibiotics because you don't have a paper from a doctor.

Been in Portugal and Austria. Never had this issue, public doctors only.

Here in Ireland I've never had to wait more than a few hours to see a doctor to get a prescription for an infection. Can be a bit harder at the weekend but still seen the same day

In which EU country do you live? I moved twice and I never had this experience. Visits this routine can be done almost without delay, sometimes directly off the street inbetween scheduled patients.

Even in Hungary it is easy to reach a doctor. The difficulty is in finding a doctor who gives a damn.

Tell me about it. My kid has a chronic condition and we always have better luck being seen immediately by her ped in the US for a flair up.

Can you list some of the countries? I am curious, because in my country i can be seen within few days or call my doctor i need to. There are also consulting doctors that can be reached, if GP is not available. costs about 4 euros per visit.

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