EU Commission warns of massively increasing antibiotic resistance

In recent years, antibiotic resistance has increased worldwide. The resistance rates of bacteria to antibiotics are also increasing in the EU. According to health experts, the problem must be tackled swiftly, since otherwise many treatment options may be missing.
Worldwide increase in antibiotic resistance
For years, health experts have warned of a further increase in antibiotic resistance. So far, however, this has not stopped yet. It has recently been reported that bacterial strains that are resistant to the emergency antibiotic colistin have also spread in this country. These super germs were first discovered in Germany. In this context, the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) had warned against the "transferability of a resistance gene in human and veterinary medicine". The news agency APA now reports that bacterial resistance rates to antibiotics are increasing across the EU. This is demonstrated by a new report from the European Center for Disease Control (ECDC / Stockholm) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA / Parma).

Antibiotic resistance continues to spread. Image: Syda Productions - fotolia

Resistance rates of almost 70 percent
"Every year around 25,000 people in the EU die from bacterial infections caused by resistant bacteria. But this danger is not limited to Europe, but a global problem that calls for global solutions, "said EU Health Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis. As stated in the APA report, Campylobacter germs - especially from poultry, other meat and derived products - are the most prevalent in the EU for food-borne infections. For example, in broiler chickens resistance rates to the broad-spectrum antibiotic ciprofloxacin (a fluoroquinolone) of almost 70 percent have been observed. In samples of humans were found to be up to 60 percent against resistant germs.

Lack of treatment options
According to experts, the Campylobacter problem is relatively difficult to get to grips with. There is a vaccine against Salmonella for animals, but not yet against Campylobacter. In addition, Campylobacter is a germ that naturally occurs in poultry in the intestine. Therefore, irradiation or spraying with a chlorine solution would be the only completely safe solution. Every effort should therefore be made to suppress resistance, otherwise treatment options may be lacking in the case of illnesses.

Only a few alternatives
Resistance rates of about 30 percent to tetracyclines, sulfonamides and ampicillin were found in salmonellosis in patients, APA reported. This was similar for samples from poultry. Also, multidrug-resistant Salmonella bacteria were high at about one-quarter in patients and up to 30 percent in chickens and turkeys. As mentioned in the beginning, the resistance of E. coli bacteria to the antibiotic colistin, which was first detected, could be a problem in the future. Should this therapy option be eliminated, there would be few otherwise effective drugs against such infections. According to APA, this also applies to Salmonella and E. coli bacteria, which are no longer responsive to third-generation cephalosporins and formerly particularly effective carbapenems. (Ad)