Overview of Antibiotic Use in Korea / 감염과화학요법

ABSTRACT

Antibiotics are one of the most commonly produced pharmaceutical agents; production amount of antibiotics reached approximately 1.6 trillion won in 2010. From the doctors' perspective, there were important turning points in the use of antibiotics beyond the 21st century. These include implementation of separation of pharmaceutical prescription and dispensation in 2000, quality assessment of prescriptions, including those for antibiotics for treatment of acute upper respiratory tract infections, in ambulatory care in 2001 and public reporting of its results in 2006, quality assessment of the use of prophylactic antibiotics for surgery in 2007, and the code of conduct for ethical competition in the pharmaceutical trade in 2010. With this background, many changes in the use of antibiotics have occurred in the last decade. This review summarizes the literature published on the use of antibiotics in human medicine in Korea over the past decade.