Using reported data of 256,000,000 antibiotic prescriptions in a population of 350,000,000 people over one year, what is the average number of antibiotic prescriptions per person per year (per-capita exposure)? Show your calculation.

• A. Approximately 1.37 prescriptions per person per year, because you must double-count repeat prescriptions to account for course durations and thus the per-capita exposure doubles under standard surveillance calculations.
• B. Exactly 2 prescriptions per person per year because national averages always round up to whole-course equivalence estimates for public health messaging, ignoring precise counts and thereby simplifying policy communications.
• C. Approximately 0.07 prescriptions per person per year because you divide population by prescriptions to get a fractional rate of people prescribed antibiotics each year which is always lower than 0.1 in developed countries.
• D. Approximately 0.73 prescriptions per person per year (256,000,000 ÷ 350,000,000 ≈ 0.731).

Answer: (D)