“We need to use the antibiotics we have very wisely. Vaccines for bacterial infections can help because they reduce the need for antibiotics," -Dr. Giorgia SulisInfectious disease epidemiologist Dr. Giorgia Sulis knows that antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest health threats of our time. Because antibiotics are overused world-wide, bacteria that cause conditions like pneumonia, tuberculosis, blood poisoning, and foodborne diseases are becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics and are harder to treat.

One way to safeguard antibiotics is to prevent bacterial infections through vaccinations. Dr. Sulis is working on projects aimed at improving the uptake of pneumococcal vaccines among older Canadians and assessing the impact of these vaccines on antibiotic consumption. These vaccines protect against a common cause of pneumonia, and have been recommended for Canadians aged 65 and older since 1989, but many eligible adults have not yet received them.

Dr. Sulis is also developing educational and stewardship interventions in low and middle-income countries to reduce prescribing and over-the-counter sale of antibiotics for inappropriate uses like viral respiratory infections, and to keep certain antibiotics only as a last resort.

“We need to use the antibiotics we have very wisely. Vaccines for bacterial infections can help because they reduce the need for antibiotics," she says.

Dr. Sulis was recently appointed as an associate scientist in the Clinical Epidemiology Program at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. She is also an assistant professor at the University of Ottawa.

The Ottawa Hospital is a leading academic health, research and learning hospital proudly affiliated with the University of Ottawa and supported by The Ottawa Hospital Foundation.