On 18 November, the European Respiratory Society celebrates European Antibiotic Awareness Day

Lausanne, 18 November, 2008 - The European Respiratory Society, ERS, an international medical society established in 1990 to promote better lung health through research and continued professional development for respiratory clinicians celebrates today the first-ever European Antibiotic Awareness Day.

European Antibiotic Awareness Day, which will be organized annually by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), is an occasion for people around Europe to raise awareness about the risks associated with inappropriate use of antibiotics, and how to take antibiotics responsibly. 

This year's theme, "Don't take antibiotics for colds and flu" sends an important message about that antibiotics do not work in the case of infections caused by viruses such as colds and flu.

Read the full press release

Other links:
Respiratory infection highlights from Berlin as recommended by Dr Gernot Rohde (Assembly 10 Secretary)

Our education track on “Non-TB related respiratory infections and community acquired pneumonia” as recommended by Dr Mark Woodhead

Proceedings of the GRACE (Genomics to combat resistance against antibiotics in community-acquired LRTIs in Europe) project which is our collaborative project with partners ESCMID (the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases)