Spanish ‘superbug’ kills 20 times more than traffic accidents

They will die in Spain in 2023 23,303 people were infected with multidrug-resistant bacteria; As the pathogen does not respond to available antibiotics. This is the estimate of a study published in Madrid on Monday by the Spanish Society of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology (SEIMC), which highlights the number of deaths related to antimicrobial resistance “20 times higher than traffic accident deaths According to data from the DGT, Spain’s population will be 1,145 in 2022.

“Our goal is that these data help to raise more and better awareness among citizens and professionals about this serious problem that has a very important impact on health,” he said. Jose Miguel CisnerosHead of the Infectious Diseases Service at the Virgen Rocío Hospital in Seville and coordinator of the above-mentioned study, which was carried out within the framework of the conference “Fighting drug resistance: Institutional, professional and patient perspectives”.

Cisneros stressed that according to estimates of the study, called “SEIMC-BMR 2023”, in which 260 researchers from 130 hospitals in Spain are involved, these will be produced in our country this year 159,174 bacterial infections did not respond to treatment Because resistance mechanisms have been established against their behavior.

Stand out among these ‘superbugs’E. coli “Extended-spectrum beta-lactamase producers,” were the causative agent in 25% of cases in this study.

Urinary tract infections are the most common multidrug-resistant problem, while pneumonia is the infection with the highest mortality rate, according to working data. 45% of multidrug-resistant infections occur in hospital settingsindicating that the study also estimated 189,535 years of life lost due to these pathogens.

“This study provides knowledge of important epidemiological, clinical and health management value regarding infections caused by these bacteria in our country,” said Cisneros, recalling that according to the World Health Organization, antimicrobial resistance is a global problem One of the top ten threats faced. public health, “One of the biggest challenges we will face in the 21st century”.

Nearly 5 million people died globally due to antimicrobial resistance in 2019, a problem that threatens to reverse the medical progress made in recent decades. If we don’t have the tools to fight bacterial infections, a procedure as simple as a tooth extraction can become a risk that’s too difficult to deal with.

The “SEIMC-BMR 2023” study produced data similar to those shown in the 2018 and 2019 versions of the study (mortality rate and number of fatalities), which, according to Cisneros, “proves the effectiveness of the measures being taken sex (to combat antimicrobial resistance), while pointing out that this is not enough and that more attention is needed to this issue,” he stressed.

The effort monitored multidrug-resistant infections detected in 130 hospitals of various sizes across the country for 14 days, “representing 40% of available hospital beds nationwide.” Each case was followed up for 30 days after diagnosis, and mortality was analyzed. A total of 2,307 patients were analyzed, 54% of whom were men. The average age is 70.8 years.

“Infections caused by multidrug-resistant bacteria disproportionately affect the frailest people, including the elderly, but it would be a mistake to think that it only affects them. This type of infection can affect everyone,” Cisneros stressed.

The researchers noted in their presentation that the data from this work “must be interpreted with caution as they are estimates,” although the methods of this work and the similarity of the results to other versions allow the reliability of the conclusions to be assessed, they stressed.