Paukū Pidgin: Strep Throat Bumbye Bumbye, Antibiotics No Moa 🤒🚫💊

Da time fo strep throat stay back strong, but da medicine no stay fo everybody. 😷📈 Covid wen help us no spread nuff kine sick, but now da buggahs stay coming back wit new problems. Da CDC say strep A (strep throat) wen go up from da Covid time low to moa high den befo Covid, in 2022 an 2023. But da same time get planny strep cases an not nuff medicine, spesho fo da keiki, like NPR wen say dis Monday. 📻

All ova, da most bigga kine strep cases (called invasive group A strep) stay happening moa to da keiki, da CDC say. An da keiki stay da ones wea not get nuff antibiotics. 🏥👧👦

Right now, get planny liquid amoxicillin (da pink kine syrup medicine fo strep throat) stay running out, da Food and Drug Administration say. An dis wen stay happening long time. Planny kine powders fo make da liquid amoxicillin stay running out since October 2022. Da companies dat make da medicine say get too much people like buy da medicine, an dats why no moa nuff. 💉📦

Da numbah of strep cases stay moa high den befo, but neva go crazy big. But, like NPR say, da companies wen use Covid time sales fo make da medicine, an maybe dey neva make nuff. 📊

Erin Fox, one medicine use an policy resurcha from da University of Utah, tell NPR, “Companies look how much dey wen sell last year. Dey might make small kine change. Wit da big kine flu season dis year, da medicine dey make no stay nuff fo all da people need.” 📉📚

Get oddah kine medicine fo treat strep throat, but sometimes hard fo make da keiki take pills o moa liquid. 🥄💊

Sometimes da doctah give one medicine an no know no moa nuff. Den da patient o da ohana gotta go find da medicine from all ova. Caitlin Rivers, one epidemiologist from Johns Hopkins University, tell NPR she wen go all ova fo find da medicine fo her own keiki. She say, “Dis make moa hard fo da ohana wen already get hard time wit da sick dis winter.” 🌬️❄️

But fo real, you gotta get da right medicine fo strep throat. If you no take care, da strep A can make big problems like hurt da organs o get rheumatic fever. 🚑🚨

Da worst time fo strep throat stay between December an April, so maybe da numbah of cases go down an da medicine stay moa easy fo find. But da Covid time wen make planny sick time all mess up, an no can tell if next month stay bettah, Rivers say. 🔄🤷

Dis last year, da FDA wen say get shortage fo planny medicine, like oddah kine antibiotics. Get shortage fo oddah kine medicine too, like fo ADHD an diabetes. All dis cuz hard fo bring da stuff, moa people like buy, an oddah stuffs. 🚚📦📈

Da shortage of medicine can make people try find oddah ways fo get da medicine dey need. Sometimes dey go try buy from oddah countries, but den no can be shua if da medicine stay da same kine as wat dey tink dey getting. 🌍💊

Da ting we gotta rememba, stay on top of da health an take care da best we can. Make shua talk to da doctah if no can find da medicine dey wen prescribe. Dey might get oddah options fo help you an da ohana stay in good health. 🩺👨‍⚕️👩‍⚕️

So, da strep throat cases stay going up, an get planny challenges fo deal wit da medicine shortage. But we gotta do our best fo take care an stay strong togeddah, fo make shua everybody stay healthy an safe. 🤝💪🌈

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NOW IN ENGLISH

Strep Throat Surges Amid Antibiotic Shortage 🤒🚫💊

The pandemic had slowed down the spread of many communicable diseases, but now they’re back, along with new challenges. The CDC reports a surge in strep A infections (strep throat) from Covid lows to above pre-pandemic levels in 2022 and 2023. This increase in strep cases coincides with a shortage of one of the most commonly used medicines to treat the infections, especially in children, as highlighted in a recent NPR report. 📻

Nationwide, the most significant increase in severe strep cases (known as invasive group A strep infections) has been observed in children, according to the CDC. And kids are the group most affected by the ongoing antibiotic scarcity. 🏥🧒👧

Currently, many dosages of liquid amoxicillin, the go-to bright pink medicine for pediatric strep infections, are in short supply, according to the Food and Drug Administration. This shortage has persisted for months. Many forms and brands of the powders used in liquid amoxicillin formulas have been under an official FDA shortage since October 2022. The pharmaceutical companies that manufacture the medicine have cited increased demand for the drug as the reason behind its limited availability. 💉📦

While higher than normal, strep infection levels haven’t reached record levels in recent months. However, as NPR notes, companies often rely on recent sales data to inform their production. By using pandemic years as data points, these pharmaceutical manufacturers may have miscalculated. 📊

Erin Fox, a medication use and policy researcher at the University of Utah, told NPR, “Companies typically look to see what their sales were the prior year. They might make a little bit of an adjustment. With the really severe respiratory season we’ve had this year, it just simply was a mismatch between what people manufactured and what was available.” 📉📚

There are alternative options for treating strep infections. Doctors can prescribe other dosages or pills over certain liquid forms of amoxicillin. However, getting kids to swallow pills or larger volumes of liquid medicine can be a challenge. 🥄💊

Sometimes, doctors may prescribe a medicine without realizing it’s in short supply, leaving the patient or patient’s family to navigate the pharmacy system and find what they need. Caitlin Rivers, a Johns Hopkins University epidemiologist, told NPR she had to go to multiple pharmacies to find a prescribed antibiotic for her own child. “It just adds another burden on what’s already been a really difficult winter respiratory season for families,” she said. 🌬️❄️

But obtaining proper medication for strep is critically important. Untreated strep A infections can lead to serious, long-term consequences like organ damage or rheumatic fever. 🚑🚨

The worst time of year for strep infections is often December through April, so the spike in cases and concurrent struggle to find meds could settle down soon. But years of pandemic threw many seasonal infection cycles out of whack, and there’s no guarantee that next month will bring relief, Rivers said. 🔄🤷

Over the past year, the FDA has declared shortages on many commonly prescribed medications, including other antibiotics. Other shortages include certain types of ADHD medications like immediate-release Adderall and multiple brands of a newer class of diabetes drugs that are also often used for weight loss. Supply chain disruptions, increases in demand, and a mix of other factors are to blame. 🚚📦📈

Regardless of the causes, drug shortages can have significant negative impacts on medical care, quality of life, and health.