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The UK Health Security Agency has today launched a six-week campaign to break misconceptions people aged 18 to 34 have about antibiotics.

In an attempt to ratchet up the fight against antibiotic resistance, the UKHSA said its initiative will be bolstered by a “new comedic mascot character” called ‘Andi Biotic’, who will “answer people’s uncertainties about when and how to take antibiotics” across its digital channels.

The campaign will launch on UKHSA’s social media channels and at GP surgeries and pharmacies in April and May. Andi Biotic will appear in a variety of digital scenarios to help ensure antibiotics are taken appropriately.

The scenarios will urge people not to take them for colds and flu, to only take antibiotics when they have been prescribed and take them as directed by a healthcare professional.

They will also impress upon people the importance of not saving antibiotics for future use.

The campaign was introduced in response to a study by UKHSA which found 54 per cent of the country’s population are unsure there is anything they can do to prevent antibiotic resistance despite 42 per cent having concerns about how the issue affects them.

Forty-five per cent of people aged 18 to 34 reported taking antibiotics during the previous 12 months compared to 33 per cent in the general population.

The study also showed that 41 per cent of 18 to 34-year-olds obtain antibiotics incorrectly compared to 23 per cent of the general population.

The UKHSA said ‘obtaining antibiotics incorrectly’ included buying them “in a shop that was not a pharmacy”, getting them on the internet, using antibiotics that were prescribed for someone else and obtaining them while abroad without a prescription from a healthcare professional.