The overuse of antibiotics isn't simply a matter of doctors' prescriptions. Many patients also prefer to use antibiotics even when they are only slightly ill.

According to He Ping, a physician at Beijing's Haidian Hospital, more than 80 percent of his patients said they store antibiotics at home in case of different kinds of infections. Among China's 15 best-selling medicines, 10 are antibiotics.

"People believe the myth that antibiotics can diminish inflammation, so they use them to treat everything from toothaches to fever. Some patients even demand that doctors use expensive antibiotics on them even though we explain to them it is not necessary," He said.

But very few people are aware of the side effects of the overuse of antibiotics. Even if they know, they often chose to ignore the danger, although antibiotics can damage organs, cause disorders in the body's normal bacteria and increase the resistance of disease causing germs.

"Actually all these side effects are stated clearly in the description of the medicine, but Chinese people believe that medicines are poisonous anyway, so they ignore the side effects most of the time," Zhong said.

The use of antibiotics was "inappropriate" in 58 percent of cases, according to a review of 1,000 patient records at 10 hospitals in Beijing and four provinces from 2005 to 2010.

In October 2010, NDM-1, a multi-drug-resistant strain of bacteria, was detected in a sample taken from an 83-year-old cancer patient in Fujian Province. This bacterium is resistant to all antibiotic drugs and is referred to as a "superbug."

"The cause of superbugs is the abuse of antibiotics," said Yang Li, an associate professor at Peking University's School of Public Health. "It takes about 10 years to develop a new antibiotic but bacterial resistance emerges within only two years. There may come a time when there are no effective antibiotics left. The emergence of superbugs sounds a warning to many Chinese who have the misconception that antibiotics are a cure-all."

Contaminated food

On December 21, 2011, a woman named Gong Xiaoming posted a message on her Twitter-like micro-blog on Weibo.com saying that she was experiencing itchy rashes all over her body, and suspected it was the lamb she'd eaten for dinner that caused it. "I think the lamb contained excessive antibiotics," said Gong.

Immediately, Liao Xinbo, Deputy Director of the Guangdong Provincial Department of Health, responded that Gong's suspicions were not unfounded. "Antibiotics can accumulate in the bodies of humans who frequently eat contaminated meat," Liao said. "It is widely known that antibiotics have already become a panacea in China's animal husbandry industry. Whenever a peak season arrives for epidemic diseases, farmers always use large doses of antibiotics in animal diets to help keep them healthy."

According to Xiao Yonghong, a professor at the Institute of Clinical Pharmacology at Peking University, 46.1 percent of the antibiotics—or about 96,800 out of the 210,000 tons produced in China—are currently used in livestock.

Nanfang Daily in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, quoted an anonymous person who owns a large pig farm as saying that without antibiotics many of the pigs would not survive long enough to be sold. "Antibiotic residues left in animal products are invisible time bombs that enter the human body," Xiao said. "When they accumulate to a certain level they can cause pathological changes in the body, resulting in alarming symptoms from allergies to serious intoxication."

Since 2002, the MOH, along with the Ministry of Agriculture and the State Food and Drug Administration, have released lists of medications that are banned for use in animal husbandry. In 2005, a total of 29 antibiotics were prohibited for use in animal husbandry in a file directory released by the Ministry of Agriculture.

However, the illicit use of antibiotics has continued.

"This is largely because the current food safety inspection process does not target antibiotic residues," Xiao said. "A lack of veterinary knowledge is also behind some of the abuse. As a result, there is a need to better educate farmers in the advanced practices of animal husbandry, and make them more aware of the risks of the overuse of antibiotics."

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