Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Mar 2;3(1):e40.
doi: 10.1017/ash.2022.357. eCollection 2023.

Dispensing of antibiotics without prescription in the metropolitan area of Athens, Greece, in 2021-Can new legislation change old habits?

Ioannis Kopsidas  1   2 , Lydia Kokkinidou  2 , Dioni Pinelopi Petsiou  2 , Eleni Kourkouni  2 , Christos Triantafyllou  2 , Grammatiki-Christina Tsopela  2 , Theoklis Zaoutis  1   2
Affiliations

Dispensing of antibiotics without prescription in the metropolitan area of Athens, Greece, in 2021-Can new legislation change old habits?

Ioannis Kopsidas et al. Antimicrob Steward Healthc Epidemiol. .

Abstract

Objective: To assess the effect of new legislation on the dispensing of antimicrobials without prescription from pharmacies in Greece.

Design: In-person survey.

Setting: The study included 110 pharmacies in the greater Athens Metropolitan area.

Methods: Volunteer collaborators visited 110 pharmacies in the greater Athens Metropolitan area in December 2021 and January 2022. They asked for either ciprofloxacin or amoxicillin-clavulanate acid (6:5 ratio) without providing a prescription, without simulating symptoms, and without offering justification or insisting. Fluoroquinolones have additional dispensing restrictions in Greece. Results were compared to a 2008 study. In 2020, legislation allowed the dispensing of antibiotics from pharmacies only with an electronic prescription, overriding the 1973 forbidding the dispensing of all medications without prescriptions.

Results: All pharmacists refused to dispense ciprofloxacin without a prescription. Only 1 pharmacy dispensed amoxicillin-clavulanate without a prescription. Compared to the 2008 study, dispensing of amoxicillin-clavulanate without a prescription dropped from 100% in 2008 to 1% in 2021 and dispensing ciprofloxacin without a prescription dropped from 53% in 2008 to 0% in 2021.

Conclusions: A new and enforced law that requires electronic prescribing led to a dramatic reduction of antibiotic dispensing without prescription compared to 12 years ago. Similar initiatives could help solve the problem of antibiotic consumption and resistance in Greece and elsewhere.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

No author has any relevant conflicts of interest to declare related to this article.

References

    1. Antibiotic resistance. World Health Organization website. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/antibiotic-resistance. Accessed July 14, 2021.
    1. Antimicrobial resistance. World Health Organization website. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/antimicrobial-resistance. Accessed July 14, 2021.
    1. UN health agency steps up fight against ‘invisible pandemic’ of antimicrobial resistance. UN News website. https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/06/1040741. Published June 18, 2019. Accessed July 14, 2021.
    1. Klein EY, Van Boeckel TP, Martinez EM, et al. Global increase and geographic convergence in antibiotic consumption between 2000 and 2015. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2018;115:E3463–E3470. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Abu Al-Halawa D, Sarama R, Abdeen Z, Qasrawi R. Knowledge, attitudes, and practices relating to antibiotic resistance among pharmacists: a cross-sectional study in the West Bank, Palestine. Lancet 2019;393:S7. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources