In many Hispanic neighborhoods in New York City, no prescription is needed to get an antibiotic. The drugs are readily available in bodegas and other stores, new survey results indicate.

Selling antibiotics over-the-counter, which is illegal in the United States and other developed countries but not in Central and South America and developing countries elsewhere, will undoubtedly add to the growing problem of antibiotic resistance, Dr. Elaine L. Larson warned in a report to the 42nd Annual Meeting of the Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA) in Boston today.

To determine the availability of antibiotics without a prescription, Larson, associate dean for research at the Columbia University School of Nursing in New York, sent research assistants into 101 stores in three New York City neighborhoods - one primarily Hispanic, one primarily black, and one primarily white, non-Hispanic.

In each store, a woman of the same ethnicity as the neighborhood requested medication for a sore throat. Eighty-eight (87.1 percent) of the businesses were grocery stores/delicatessens or bodegas, ten (9.9 percent) were independent pharmacies, and three (3 percent) were health food stores.

According to Dr. Larson, antibiotics were available without a prescription in all 34 stores in the Hispanic neighborhoods, but in none of the other stores. However, in one of these other stores, the shopkeeper referred the surveyor to the Hispanic neighborhood.

In 7 of 34 (20.6 percent) of the Hispanic stores, the antibiotics were stocked on the shelves; in all other stores they were available upon request.

The most common antibiotic available was ampicillin sold in 26 of 34 stores (76.5 percent). Tetracycline, erythromycin, and amoxicillin were also readily available. Surveyors were able to obtain these antibiotics as single individually wrapped doses and in larger quantities.

Larson told Reuters Health that she is not surprised by the results and said it’s an access issue.

“The take-home message to physicians and other prescribers is that while Hispanics know that they ‘should not’ take antibiotics without a prescription, it is too difficult to get an appointment with a provider in a timely manner, and they therefore go to bodegas,” she explained.

“While we only studied Hispanics, this is almost certainly true of others as well. We need to make access easier,” she added.