Two out of three Slovaks, or 68 percent, mistakenly believe that antibiotics work against viruses, according to results from an online survey by B-inside. The survey was conducted on a sample of 150 men and 150 women aged between 18-49. November 18 is European Antibiotics Awareness Day.
Fifty-six percent of the respondents think that antibiotics are effective at treating most cases of a sore throat, which more often than not are caused by viruses. Nearly all - 94 percent - of those asked realise that excessive use of antibiotics leads to an increased resistance towards them. As many as 85 percent of Slovaks were found to suffer from a sore throat more than once a year, with the average found to be 3.3 times per year.
Gavin Shoebridge
