Traditional Chinese medicine strategies to optimize antibiotic use and reduce the burden of antibiotic resistance in Chinese children

Front Public Health. 2024 Dec 19:12:1530018. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1530018. eCollection 2024.

Abstract

Antibiotic resistance is one of the greatest threats to human health, especially children's health. Traditional Chinese medicine encompasses several documented treatments for pediatric infectious diseases. The antibacterial efficacy and potential of traditional Chinese medicine to reverse bacterial resistance are gaining increasing research attention. This study explores the strategies that have been used to implement traditional Chinese medicine to optimize antibiotic use and reduce the burden of antibiotic resistance in children, as well as the challenges encountered. The findings emphasize the necessity for the Chinese government and the health community to take coordinated action, leveraging the unique strengths of traditional Chinese medicine to address the global health challenge posed by antibiotic resistance.

Keywords: antibiotic; antibiotic resistance; children; pediatrics; traditional Chinese medicine.

MeSH terms

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents* / therapeutic use
  • Child
  • China
  • Drug Resistance, Bacterial
  • Drug Resistance, Microbial
  • Humans
  • Medicine, Chinese Traditional*

Substances

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2017YFC1703202), National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 82374522), Health Science and Technology Capacity improvement Project of Jilin Province (No. 2022JC042), and the Academic Inheritance and Communication Project of the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences (No. CI2022E001XB).