Status: 12/09/2022 4:07 p.m
According to the WHO, antibiotic-resistant bacteria have increased in some cases. This is mainly due to the fact that the drugs are used too often. Experts say that has to change, but the window of opportunity is tight.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has expressed concern about the increasing resistance of bacteria to antibiotics. one new report According to the organization, the number of resistant bacteria that can cause life-threatening blood poisoning increased in the first year of the corona pandemic. “Antimicrobial resistance is a global threat, both to public health and to the economy,” said WHO expert Catharina van Weezenbeek.
According to WHO estimates, 1.3 million people die every year because antibiotics do not work on their infections. The EU health authority ECDC recently reported that more than 35,000 people die every year in the European Economic Area due to antibiotic resistance. The health consequences are comparable to those of influenza, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS together, the agency said.
According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), around 2,500 people die every year in Germany from multi-resistant pathogens alone, i.e. those that are resistant to several antibiotics at the same time. In addition, there are deaths in the course of individual resistances. According to the WHO report, overuse or misuse of antibiotics has contributed to microbes becoming resistant to many treatments.
More bloodstream infections
While most resistance trends have remained stable since 2017, infections in the bloodstream due to resistant bacteria have increased, according to the WHO. From 2017 to 2021, the number of resistant Escherichia coli and Salmonella spp. and resistant gonorrhea bacteria increased worldwide by at least 15 percent, it says. It is possible that this is also due to the frequent use of antibiotics in the context of the corona pandemic. This should now be examined more closely.
In the case of bacteria such as Klebsiella pneumoniae and Acinetobacter spp., which often cause bloodstream infections in hospitals, high resistance values of around 50 percent to commonly used agents have now been reported, the WHO reported. They would have to be treated with the strongest antibiotics.
Lack of funds, difficult data situation
A total of 127 countries have reported to the WHO database since 2017. In the first pandemic year in 2020, there were only 87 countries. The organization also stressed that better data is needed. In some countries, reports only come from a few highly specialized clinics, which naturally only treat the most severe cases. Therefore the picture may be distorted.
Laboratories and diagnostic tools are lacking in many poorer countries, according to the WHO. This creates pressure on doctors and clinics to use the latest and strongest means without a clear diagnosis, even if that is possibly not necessary, said van Weezenbeek. The experts therefore called for more money for research and the fight against resistance.
The time window is “very narrow”
The WHO sees a glimmer of hope if action is taken quickly, as WHO expert Carmem Pessoa-Silva said: The resistance of bacteria to agents that are currently used as a “last resort” are still low. If unnecessary and incorrect applications were stopped, they could remain effective longer. But the time window to react is “very narrow,” said Pessoa-Silva. It is also necessary to develop new classes of antibiotics. In hospitals in particular, bacteria often circulate against which hardly any antibiotics are effective.
Experts speak of antibiotic resistance when patients do not react to an antibiotic, i.e. when the disease-causing bacteria are not destroyed by the antibiotic. Pathogens are called multi-resistant, against which several or all available antibiotics are no longer effective.