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Superbugs threaten as antibiotics lose their power
Source: Agencies |
November 18, 2011, Friday
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SUPERBUGS capable of evading even the most powerful antibiotics are increasing their grip in Europe, with rates of drug resistance in one type of bacteria reaching 50 percent in the worst-hit countries, health officials said yesterday.
In a report on multi-drug-resistant bacteria, or so-called superbugs, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, which monitors disease across the European Union, said the need to combat resistance was "critical." Director Marc Sprenger said: "We need to declare a war against these bacteria. If we do not, we will get lots of infections, and many vulnerable patients will become severely ill, and we do not have the antibiotics to treat them."
Sprenger said across the region rates of resistance to last-line antibiotics against the bacterium Klebsiella pneumoniae had more than doubled to 15 percent by 2010 from around 7 percent five years earlier.
He added: "What is even more worrying is that there is a great diversity among different countries in Europe, and some countries have a resistance of almost 50 percent."
Klebsiella pneumoniae causes pneumonia and urinary tract and bloodstream infections. The superbug form is resistant even to a class of medicines called carbapenems, the most powerful known antibiotics, which are usually reserved by doctors as a last line of defence.
To a large extent, antibiotic resistance is driven by the misuse and overuse of antibiotics, which encourages bacteria to develop new ways of overcoming them.
Experts say primary care doctors are partly to blame for prescribing antibiotics for patients who demand them unnecessarily, and hospitals are also guilty of overuse.
"Fifty percent of all antibiotic use in hospitals can be inappropriate," the disease center said, and it urged more prudent use of the drugs.
At the same time, there are few new antibiotic drugs on the horizon, and experts are worried that only a few big drug firms, such as GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca, still have strong antibiotic research and development programs.
There is little commercial incentive to invest in new drugs that may be held in reserve as last-line weapons.
In a report on multi-drug-resistant bacteria, or so-called superbugs, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, which monitors disease across the European Union, said the need to combat resistance was "critical." Director Marc Sprenger said: "We need to declare a war against these bacteria. If we do not, we will get lots of infections, and many vulnerable patients will become severely ill, and we do not have the antibiotics to treat them."
Sprenger said across the region rates of resistance to last-line antibiotics against the bacterium Klebsiella pneumoniae had more than doubled to 15 percent by 2010 from around 7 percent five years earlier.
He added: "What is even more worrying is that there is a great diversity among different countries in Europe, and some countries have a resistance of almost 50 percent."
Klebsiella pneumoniae causes pneumonia and urinary tract and bloodstream infections. The superbug form is resistant even to a class of medicines called carbapenems, the most powerful known antibiotics, which are usually reserved by doctors as a last line of defence.
To a large extent, antibiotic resistance is driven by the misuse and overuse of antibiotics, which encourages bacteria to develop new ways of overcoming them.
Experts say primary care doctors are partly to blame for prescribing antibiotics for patients who demand them unnecessarily, and hospitals are also guilty of overuse.
"Fifty percent of all antibiotic use in hospitals can be inappropriate," the disease center said, and it urged more prudent use of the drugs.
At the same time, there are few new antibiotic drugs on the horizon, and experts are worried that only a few big drug firms, such as GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca, still have strong antibiotic research and development programs.
There is little commercial incentive to invest in new drugs that may be held in reserve as last-line weapons.
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