In the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and EU countries, bacterial resistance to drugs such as antibiotics and antimicrobials will kill nearly 80,000 people every year and will put a strain on hospital resources as health systems and economies Costs will continue to rise with the Covid-19 pandemic. It must be taken into account that the total annual cost of antimicrobial resistance in the 34 OECD and EU/EEA countries is approximately €55 per inhabitant.
An OECD report warned of this, showing One in five bacterial infections are resistant to antibiotic treatment In OECD countries, resistance kills those around them 79,000 per year in OECD and EU countries. This number is 2.4 times the number of deaths from tuberculosis, influenza and HIV and AIDS combined in 2020.In Europe alone, multidrug-resistant bacteria cause 33,000 deaths Additional health expenditure of approximately €1.5 billion is generated annually.
Furthermore, he added, drug-resistant infections in hospitals represent More than 60% of deaths are related to antimicrobial resistance Older people are most affected: about two-thirds of deaths due to antimicrobial resistance occur in people over 65.
The report states that if effective action is not taken Stem the tide of superbugs: Just spend a few dollars moreResistance to third-line or last-resort antibiotics is likely to increase 2.1-fold by 2035 compared with 2005, making it more difficult to treat infections such as pneumonia and bloodstream infections.
For some countries and certain antibiotic-bacterial combinations, including some acquired in hospital settings, until 90% of infections develop drug resistance.
Overuse or inappropriate use of antimicrobials means one in five infections is now caused by superbugs. The report estimates that if left unchecked, “IOECD resistance to antimicrobials of last resort could increase 2.1 times by 2035 compared to 2005».
This means health systems are close to running out of options for treating patients with conditions such as pneumonia and blood infections.
At this rate, Europe could be back to a time before antibiotics, when infection could be a death sentence.
In other words, due to improper use, antibiotics are losing their effectiveness at a rate that was unimaginable five years ago.If antibiotics continue to be used at the current rate Europe could be heading back to pre-antibiotic era, when bacterial infections like pneumonia were commonThis could mean the death penalty.
In some countries, including Greece, India and Turkey, “more than 40% of all infections caused by 12 combinations of antibiotics and superbugs are expected to be antibiotic-resistant by 2035.”
Failure to act before this problem will be very costly, the document said. For example, the annual cost of treating complications caused by drug-resistant infections can exceed 26.193 billion euros.
To put this into perspective: Across the 17 countries with data, “total annual healthcare expenditures due to drug resistance were approximately 19% of total healthcare expenditures on treating Covid-19 patients in 2020.”
Over the past two decades, total human antibiotic consumption has increased slightly in OECD and EU/EEA countries and significantly in non-OECD G20 countries. But the problem is the rapid increase in the use of antibiotics as a last resort for hard-to-treat infections. And, while the OECD’s use of antimicrobials in animals halved between 2000 and 2019, it is expected that by 2035,Sales of veterinary antimicrobials in G20 countries are almost twice those in OECD countries.
The OECD document proposes a number of measures to address this serious problem that threatens the health of citizens. For example, Spain’s National Action Plan has been working since 2014 to reduce the risk of selection and spread of antibiotic resistance; investing in stronger surveillance systems, especially in specific areas of human health, strengthening antimicrobial stewardship programs, in healthcare Improve environmental and hand hygiene practices in institutions, etc.