Common prescription drugs (not themselves antibiotics) may increase risk of developing antibiotic resistance

New research presented at this year's European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) taking place online (9-12 July), suggests that three commonly prescribed classes of drugs that are not themselves antibiotics—proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), beta-blockers and antimetabolites—could lead to antibiotic resistant infections caused by bacteria from the Enterobacteriaceae family. These antibiotic resistant infections are in turn linked to longer hospital stays and potentially greater risk of death.