The World Health Organization (WHO) stated on Friday that during the pandemic there was “overuse of antibiotics” worldwide among patients hospitalized with the coronavirus, without improving clinical outcomes, while increasing potentially the already serious and growing threat of antimicrobial resistance caused by “superbugs”.
In an alert, the WHO noted that, although only 8% of patients hospitalized with coronavirus also had bacterial infections that can be treated with antibiotics, three out of four were given them “just in case.”
At no time during the global pandemic did the UN health agency recommend the use of antibiotics to treat the COVID-19 coronavirus, insisted UN agency spokesperson Dr. Margaret Harris.
Viral, not bacterial
«The advice was very clear from the beginning, that this was a virus. “So it’s not that there was any guideline or recommendation that doctors go in this direction, but perhaps because people were dealing with something completely new, they were looking for what they thought might be appropriate,” he explained.
According to the UN health agency, antibiotic use ranged from 33% for patients in the Western Pacific region to 83% in the Eastern Mediterranean and African regions. Between 2020 and 2022, prescriptions decreased over time in Europe and the Americas, but increased in Africa.
Last hope
Data collected by the WHO also indicated that the majority of antibiotics were given to seriously ill COVID-19 patients, with a global average of 81%. Antibiotic use in mild or moderate infections showed considerable variation between regions, with the highest use in Africa, at 79%.
Worryingly, the UN agency found that the most frequently prescribed antibacterial antibiotics worldwide were those with the greatest potential for antibiotic antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
‘When a patient requires antibiotics, the benefits often outweigh the risks associated with side effects or antibiotic resistance. However, when they are unnecessary, they offer no benefit while posing risks, and their use contributes to the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance,” explained Dr. Silvia Bertagnolio, head of the Surveillance, Testing and Treatment Unit. Strengthening the Laboratories of the RAM Division.
No positive impact
The UN health agency’s report maintains that the use of antibiotics “did not improve the clinical outcomes of patients with COVID-19.”
On the contrary, its systematic prescription “could create harm for people without bacterial infection, compared to those who do not receive antibiotics,” the WHO said in a statement.
«These data demand improvements in the rational use of antibiotics to minimize unnecessary negative consequences for patients and populations,” the agency says.
The conclusions were based on data from the Global Clinical Platform for COVID-19, an anonymized clinical database of patients hospitalized for this disease. The data came from 450,000 patients in 65 countries between January 2020 and March 2023.
