Amoxicillin supply problems hit Spain amid a ‘wave’ of respiratory infections

Amoxicillin supply problems hit Spain amid a wave of respiratory infections, according to reports.

The Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products has announced on the online drug information center CIMA that there are 22 shortages of different amoxicillin drugs in tablets, powder, and hard capsules, with some drugs, reported to have an end date of March 2023.

Families with very young children are being urged to return to the doctor’s office to ask for another prescription when they cannot find it in pharmacies as doctors find their appointment schedules overloaded.

Amoxicillin oral suspension has arrived at pharmacies in Alicante such as Malluguiza, while amoxicillin plus clavulanic acid in suspension, also for children, has been out of stock for two days, reports Informacion.es.

The antibiotic is one of the 627 medicines that are suffering from supply problems in pharmacies amid a wave of respiratory viruses, especially among children, with shortages also reported in Portugal and France.

Amoxicillin is a broad-spectrum antibiotic medication widely used to treat bacterial infections, which doctors prescribe to combat otitis derived from respiratory infections and pneumonia, for sore throat, sinusitis, tonsillitis, pharyngitis, and pneumonia in children.

Laboratories are beginning to release batches, especially for children, although it will still take time for the situation to normalise after weeks of shortages of the drug in pharmacies.

Pediatric ERs are said to be saturated with an average increase in patients of 40 per cent, mainly due to bronchiolitis caused by the respiratory virus.

This overlaps for the first time with covid-19 and the flu, complicating the already precarious situation in hospitals. However, antibiotics do not cure bronchiolitis because it is caused by a virus.

The lack of this medicine, especially that of 250 milligrams in oral suspension, which is dissolved in water, has coincided with the wave of bronchiolitis in Spain, which is collapsing hospital emergencies.

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