Old antibiotics chances against resistant germs?

Offer old antibiotics opportunities against resistant germs?

22/10/2014

As announced at a scientific meeting in Vienna, old antibiotics, whose patents have long since expired for a variety of reasons, become important again because they help combat newly emergent resistant bacterial strains.

"We are discussing how we can use old antibiotics effectively and how they can represent a pillar of the strategy for combating antibiotic resistance," said Viennese expert Ursula Theuretzbacher. It is about, in addition to an extension of the applicability of modern antibiotics also to use old drugs. For example, since the invention of antibiotics at the beginning of the 20th century, many antibiotics have not been launched on the market, or have been withdrawn from circulation. Dominique Monnet of the European Center for Disease Control (ECDC) emphasized the value of the old substances: "For example, forgotten antibiotics are agents such as temocillin, fosfomycin, colistin or oxacillin," said Dominique Monnet of the European Center for Disease Control (ECDC), emphasizing the value of the old substances.

Resistant germs endanger health systems
According to the European Society of Clincal Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID), antibiotic resistance has become one of the biggest threats to health systems. For example, there are urgent warnings from public bodies such as the WHO or ECDC, a post-antibiotic era, if the problem of resistance is not resolved. „Antibiotic resistance threatens health care as we know it today“, says Professor Gunnar Kahlmeter, communications officer of ESCMID and former president. „Many of the spectacular new technologies and technologies in the areas of transplantation, cancer therapy, intensive care, neonatology and orthopedics are at risk of being used because of the high risk of infection from multi-resistant bacteria. Once again, humanity has failed to receive one of its most valuable and strongest resources.“

As a reason for the resistances the ESCMID calls in a current press release of its conference currently meeting among other things the excessive prescription of antibiotics also for light illnesses, the uncontrolled access to antibiotics by pharmacies and on-line sources, the mass use of antibiotics in the animal breeding, inadequate hygiene in Hospitals and the lack of effective new generations of antibiotics. For example, Johan Mouton from the University of Nijmegen, NJmegen University in the Netherlands, emphasized, "One problem is that most antibiotics in a class have the same goals, and so are I." '- medicines. " So there would not be so many new drugs.

Combination of old and new antibiotics
That's why doctors are increasingly turning to older antibiotics that are still effective against some resistant germs. „We use some older ones today „reanimated“ Antibiotics that were developed in the early penicillin era“, says Dr Ursula Theuretzbacher, founder of the Center for Anti-Infective Agents (CEFAIA) in Vienna, chair of the scientific program committee of this conference. These should be combined to overcome the resistance with new preparations.

However, using these old preparations without appropriate studies would incur incalculable risks for patients, as the ESCMID emphasizes in their press release: „We could risk the lives of patients through the misuse of these antibiotics and even lose these antibiotics through rapid resistance formation.“ And further: „We urgently need strategies to use these older antibiotics „to develop again“ based on modern standards and modern knowledge to bring this new knowledge from the research laboratory to the bedside. This ESCMID conference in Vienna will promote the exchange of knowledge and should contribute to these new findings.“ The conference in Vienna focuses on the following topics: Therapy optimization, extension of the use of older antibiotics, sensitivity testing, regulatory aspects and dissemination of newly acquired knowledge. (Jp)