Click here to watch the coverage and read the accompanying article by Cathy Marshall with KGW News.
The press release below was also featured on both HealthCanal.com and The Lund Report. Read the HealthCanal.com article here and the Lund Report version here.
Educational event in Portland will address antibiotic use, resistance
By David Stauth
PORTLAND, Ore. – For the third year, the College of Pharmacy at Oregon State University and Oregon AWARE will sponsor an educational and outreach event about antibiotic use and resistance, called “AWARE at the Square,” on Friday, Nov. 16, at Pioneer Courthouse Square in Portland.
The event, from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., will also offer the flu shot for free to adults who are either uninsured or have barriers to accessing the vaccination.
This event is part of the national Get Smart about Antibiotics week, and tries to educate the public about appropriate antibiotic use, increasing problems with development of resistance to antibiotics, and infection prevention.
“Antibiotics can be important, sometimes life-saving medications when we really need them, but too often they are taken unnecessarily or not taken properly,” said Jessina McGregor, an assistant professor in the OSU College of Pharmacy and an expert on antibiotic use and resistance.
The most common mistake many people make, McGregor said, is taking them for something like a cold or flu, caused by viruses against which an antiobiotic will do nothing. This and other use of antibiotics can lead to development of resistance, which poses a significant public health threat of growing concern.
Experts at the event will help participants understand these issues, actions they can take to prevent infection, and how they can work with health care providers to address this problem.
This program is one of the key annual public education events the OSU College of Pharmacy operates, in this case with Oregon AWARE, a coalition based in the Oregon Health Authority and funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.
More information on these issues is available online, from the Centers for Disease Control at http://1.usa.gov/dCLO0v, and from Oregon AWARE at http://1.usa.gov/VW0vX3