Penicillin Stock in Australia Down to One Week Supply

Australian drug firm CSL recommended the rationing by hospitals of penicillin because the country's stock of the drug is down to one week.

The company had already ordered the medication from overseas, but the delivery did not arrive in August as expected,

The one-week supply is for 600 milligrammes version of benzylpenicillin. There is still two weeks supply for the 120 grammes and six weeks stock for the 3 grammes version, assured Australian Chief Medical Officer Chris Baggoley.

Mr Baggoley said the government is considering coming up with an essential medicine list to facilitate the importation of these drugs and ensure shortages would not happen again in the future.

"This is not a good situation for us to be dealing with and if it could be prevented, we should prevent it," The Australian quoted Mr Baggoley.

CSL estimated that the supply crisis of benzylpenicillin, the intravenous form of the drug used for treating syphilis, pneumonia and streptococcal infection, would last until early 2012.

The warning comes amid a report on Tuesday that sexual transmitted infections such as gonorrhea and Chlamydia cases in Australia rose in the past 12 months, particularly among young aborigines.

The Department of Health and Ageing recommended the use of ampicillin in lieu of penicillin because of the shortage. However, Australian National University infectious disease professor Peter Collignon cautioned against the use of ampicillin.

"If you look at the antibody guidelines they're recommending for lots of conditions we use penicillin and the reason they do that is because we know if broader spectrum antibiotics are given you get more antibiotic resistance," Mr Collignon told The Canberra Times.

"The problem is not that they (ampicillin) don't kill the bug... but you may develop a superbug or it might spread within a hospital if you are using a lot of these," he added.

"The whole thing with antibiotic resistance is that we try to use antibiotics sparingly and when you have to use them, use a narrow spectrum, so just one that kills the bug you're interested in rather than causing damage and collateral damage," Mr Collignon said.