[ad_1]
LONDON (Reuters) – Super infections affecting several antibiotics kill around 33,000 people a year in Europe, health experts said on Monday (November 5th). The burden of these diseases is comparable to that of influenza, tuberculosis and HIV.
An analysis conducted by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) found that the impact of drug-resistant infections has increased since 2007, with a worrying increase in the number of antibiotic-resistant microbes of last resort, including a class of medications called carbapenems.
"It's … disturbing because these antibiotics are the last available treatment options," said ECDC in a statement.
"When they are no longer effective, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to treat infections."
Experts estimate that about 70% of bacteria that can cause an infection already resist at least one antibiotic commonly used to treat them.
This has made the evolution of "superbugs" that can escape one or more drugs one of the biggest threats that the drug faces today.
The ECDC study, published in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases, looked at five types of infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the European Union and in the Space European Economic Area (EU / EEA).
It was found that about 75% of the burden of superbug was due to infections contracted in hospitals and health clinics, known as health care-associated infections (IAS).
"Strategies for preventing and controlling antibiotic-resistant bacteria require coordination at the EU / EEA and global levels," he said. He added that due to variations in the number of cases and types of antibiotic-resistant bacteria causing infections in different countries, prevention and control measures need to be adapted to national circumstances.
[ad_2]
Source link
