During the covid-19 pandemic there was a excessive use of antibiotics for patients hospitalized with this diseasewhich could have exacerbated a ‘silent’ spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), the World Health Organization (WHO) indicated this Friday.
Although only 8 percent of patients hospitalized with covid-19 also had bacterial infections that required the use of antibiotics, These medications were used in three out of four patients (75 percent).
Antibiotic administration “just in case they helped” could have increased antimicrobial resistance, a public health problem that the WHO considers one of the main future threats to global health.
According to 2019 figures, AMR directly caused 1.27 million deaths and contributed to another 4.19 million deaths worldwide.
“When antibiotics are not necessary, they can pose risks, and their use contributes to the emergence and spread of AMR,” warned the WHO expert. Silvia Bertagnolio it’s a statement.
At a global level, WHO studies indicate, the use of antibiotics did not produce positive effects in covid-19 patientsharming people without bacterial infections.
This, the WHO health agency stressed, “underlines the urgent need to improve the rational use of antibiotics, to minimize unnecessary negative consequences for patients and communities.
Antibiotic use varied by region, with the Middle East and Africa being the areas where it was most widespread (83 percent of hospitalized patients), while in Asia-Pacific the rate was the lowest, at 33 percent.
The percentage was higher in patients with severe and acute forms of covid-19who received antibiotics in 81 percent of the cases, indicates the study, which indicates that in regions such as Europe or America the use of these medications decreased throughout the pandemic, while it increased in Africa.
The WHO has studied to reach these conclusions data from 450,000 patients admitted to hospitals in 65 countries between January 2020 and March 2023a period that almost coincides in time with the period in which the international emergency due to the disease was declared.
The data will be presented at the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases congress to be held in Barcelona, Spain, from April 27 to 30.
In addition to the damage to human health, the World Bank estimates that AMR causes economic losses that could amount to between 1 and 3.4 trillion dollars annually for global GDP by the end of this decade.
