According to the new guidelines issued by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), clinicians should avoid using antibiotics for low-grade fever and viral bronchitis. The new guidelines recommended that antibiotics should only be prescribed for skin and soft tissue infections, and in the case of community-acquired pneumonia, for a total of five days. Similarly, antibiotics should be prescribed for only eight days for hospital-acquired pneumonia.

The guidelines noted that empiric antibiotic therapy should be limited to severely ill patients, such as those suffering from severe sepsis and septic shock, community-acquired pneumonia, ventilator-associated pneumonia, and necrotizing fasciitis. It also added that before starting the therapy, clinicians should make plans regarding the need, duration, and de-escalation of the therapy.

The guidelines were framed based on the findings of the survey conducted by the ICMR. The findings of the survey showed that a larger proportion of Indian patients did not benefit from carbapenem, an antibiotic used to treat pneumonia and septicemia, due to antimicrobial resistance. The ICMR report revealed that the resistance to imipenem, which is used to treat infections caused by E. coli bacteria, has increased from 14% in 2016 to 36% in 2021.

Additionally, it was observed that MRSA (Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus) rates have increased every year, from 28.4% in 2016 to 42.6% in 2021. The susceptibility of Staphylococcus aureus to erythromycin, clindamycin, ciprofloxacin, co-trimoxazole and high-level mupirocin was more evident in MSSA (Methicillin-Sensitive Staphylococcus Aureus) in comparison to multi-drug resistant strains such as MRSA (Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus).

The report also showed that several fungal pathogens, like C. parapsilosis and C. glabrata, are showing increased resistance to antifungal medicines such as fluconazole. Thus, the agency has concluded that it requires close monitoring for the next few years.