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To the Editor: Two public campaigns for more rational use of antibiotics were organized in Belgium in 2000-2001 and 2001-2002 with a goal of reducing overuse and misuse of antibiotics in the community. We assessed their effectiveness with a time-series analysis that examined changes in antibiotic sales, accounting for the confounding effect of the seasonal variation of influenza-like illnesses (ILIs).

Methods

Each 3-month campaign concentrated on simple messages, together with a series of specific answers on topics of interest, that were conveyed through booklets, handouts, posters, prime-time television spots, and Web sites.¹ Examples included "Use antibiotics less frequently but better"; "Save antibiotics, they may save your life"; and "Talk to your Doctor, Talk to your Pharmacist." Monthly outpatient antibiotic use in the community was estimated for the 1996-2002 period by extrapolation from sales data that covered 80.1% of all community pharmacies and 76.1% of the population. Sales data were converted to . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Isabelle Bauraind, MD
Federal Public Service for Health Security of the Food Chain and Environment
Brussels, Belgium

José-Maria Lopez-Lozano, MD
Unit of Preventive Medicine
Hospital Vega Baja
Orihuela, Alicante, Spain

Arielle Beyaert, PhD
Department of Quantitative Methods for Economics
Universidad de Murcia
Murcia, Spain

Jean-Louis Marchal, PhD; Bruno Seys, MD
Belgian Institute of Pharmaco-epidemiology
Brussels, Belgium

Fernande Yane, MD; Erik Hendrickx, MD
Scientific Institute of Public Health
Brussels, Belgium

Herman Goossens, MD, PhD
Laboratory of Microbiology
Universiteit Antwerpen
Antwerp, Belgium

Paul M. Tulkens, MD, PhD
tulkens@facm.ucl.ac.be
Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology Unit
Université Catholique de Louvain
Brussels, Belgium

Ludo Verbist, MD, PhD
Laboratory of Microbiology
University Hospital
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Louvain, Belgium

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