Antibiotic Conservation
Aotearoa
Topical mupirocin became available in NZ in 1986. During the 1990s it could be purchased from pharmacies without a prescription. Each year in NZ during the 1990s approximately 200,000 15g tubes of “Bactroban” were dispensed. This annual number of dispensings was approximately equivalent to one tube dispensed per 17 people each year. Over ten years the prevalence of mupirocin resistance went from zero to >20% in strains of S. aureus isolated from samples submitted to the Auckland community microbiology laboratory.
