Patient Attitudes and Patterns of Self-Medication with Antibiotics – A Cross-Sectional Study in Bulgaria

Self-medication with antibiotics is a major concern worldwide and a real problem with public health importance [1]. Most of the recent studies have revealed high prevalence of self-medication in some countries and reported positive correlation of excessive drug use with antimicrobial resistance [2-6]. When antibiotics are used without medical prescription, the increased risk of resistance is associated with the insufficient dosage or incorrect type of drugs [2, 4, 7-9]. Self-medication has been observed most frequently in the countries of economic transition and healthcare system reforms where the prescription legislation is not well enforced and the drugs are freely available over the counter [10, 11].