Recent research revealed that antibiotics as a preventive treatment increases the chances of survival in patients under intensive care. Research team led by Anne Marie de Smet, from the University Medical Centre Utrecht studied the effect of antibiotic treatment on 6,000 patients admitted to intensive care units at 13 Dutch hospitals.

The study subjects were divided into three groups. The first group received antibiotics by mouth using an oral paste. The second group was given the paste but was also treated with antibiotics through a tube into the stomach and by an intravenous drip. The third group underwent standard intensive care unit (ICU) care without prophylactic antibiotics.

The researchers said that after four weeks, the preventive use of antibiotics reduced the number of deaths by 3.5 percent in the group receiving oral antibiotic paste as well as antibiotics in the intestinal tract and by intravenous drip, and by 2.9 percent in the oral antibiotic paste group. The difference between the two groups treated with antibiotics was not significant.

The number of antibiotic-resistant bacteria did not increase in patients receiving antibiotic treatment.

Researchers added that further research is needed to find out whether resistance develops in the long term.

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