Like influenza, tuberculosis and HIV together: WHO warns of antibiotic resistance

Created: 2022-12-11, 21:42

An indicator culture plate for detecting resistant bacteria (symbol image).

© Daniel Karmann/dpa

Antibiotics no longer work in too many cases.

The World Health Organization is concerned.

She sees a "global threat".

Geneva – The World Health Organization (WHO) is deeply concerned about the increasing resistance of bacteria to antibiotics.

"Antimicrobial resistance is a global threat, both to public health and to the economy," said WHO expert Catharina van Weezenbeek.

The WHO estimates that 1.3 million people die every year because antibiotics don't work on their infections.

She presented her new report on antibiotic resistance (AMR) in Geneva on Friday.

Antibiotic resistance: 35,000 deaths in the EU every year

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.

From 2017 to 2021, the number of bloodstream infections caused by resistant Escherichia coli and Salmonella spp. and resistant gonorrhea bacteria increased by at least 15 percent worldwide, according to the current WHO report.

It is possible that this is also due to the frequent use of antibiotics in infections with the corona virus.

Concerns about antibiotic resistance: the data is confusing

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, but according to the reports from the federal states, eight percent of the Klebsiella pneumoniae bacteria are already resistant to this.

The WHO also emphasizes 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.

Concern about antibiotic resistance: Incorrect use must be stopped

127 countries reported to the WHO database.

So far, China has not been one of them.

It was said that Beijing was in talks.

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.

Even in their home country, the Netherlands, patients often demand the latest antibiotics without there being an indication for their use.

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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 action must be taken now, not in five years' time.

It is also necessary to develop new classes of antibiotics.