GPs have been given a big tick for their management of lactational mastitis and antibiotic stewardship, with a new study showing improvements over the past decade.

The analysis of 25,000 lactational mastitis encounters from 2011 to 2022 showed that GPs had increased their prescribing of narrow-spectrum antibiotics in line with Therapeutic Guidelines.

Overall, the proportion of women aged 18-44 who were prescribed antibiotics remained stable, with around nine out of 10 receiving a script for an average treatment duration of six days, according to the Flinders University–led researchers.

But the proportion receiving prescriptions for di/flucloxacillin — which targets Staphylococcus aureus, the pathogen most likely involved in lactational mastitis — rose from 46.1% to 60.4%.