West Virginia had the highest antibiotic use per capita from 1999 to 2007, the period evaluated by scientists from Extending the Cure, a project of the nonprofit Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics Policy. It is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
From 2006 to 2007, West Virginians got 1,222 prescriptions per 1,000 people. That’s more than twice the antibiotic use of Alaska, the lowest, with 546 prescriptions per 1,000 people.
“It’s actually quite a significant variation in prescribing patterns,” says Ramanan Laxminarayan, director of Extending the Cure.
Much of the excess prescribing is for respiratory infections caused by viruses, against which antibiotics are useless, he says. Misuse of antibiotics for treating viral infections can lead to bacteria that are resistant to them.
“Obviously, less is better,” he says, adding that he doesn’t want to discourage antibiotics’ appropriate use.
Why people in some states are more likely to take antibiotics than in others is unclear, Laxminarayan says. He hopes his map will spur research into the reasons.
“It takes a lot of work
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