Disaster expected in resistant bacteria

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are becoming a threat to the world's population

09/17/2013

The US disease protection agency warns against more and more antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Every year, 23,000 people fall victim to the resistant bacteria, totaling more than two million people. Accordingly, the authority would look for a „Danger to the world population“ develop.

23,000 deaths per year
A first-time estimate of the number of annual fatalities resulting from multi-drug bacterial infection is the US Disease Control Authority „Centers for Disease Control“ (CDC) came to a worrying conclusion. According to this, 23,000 deaths per year could be expected, which would correspond approximately to the number of flu victims.

„Greatest impact on human health“
The CDC now has its results in its report „Antibiotic resistance threats in the United States, 2013“ summarized and thus gives according to their own information „a very first snapshot of the burden and threat of antibiotic-resistant germs that have the greatest impact on human health“, said the scientists from the CDC. For Helen Boucher of Tufts University in Massachusetts, the situation is more than serious, because „we are facing a catastrophe, "said the doctor, making it all the more important to alert people now.

Antibiotics repeatedly in the criticism
Antibiotics are always anla for discussions and criticism. Thus, on the one hand, there are dozens of bacteria-fighting agents, without which many medical advances would not have been possible, since the patients from today's perspective „ordinary“ Infections would not have survived. But on the other side is the often thoughtless and widespread use of antibiotics, because these are used far too often and too often wrong, which has formed over time more and more antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains. According to the report of the „Centers for Disease Control“ could be assumed that in the US „up to half of the antibiotics use in humans and much of the use in animals unnecessary
and is inappropriate and thus everyone is less protected.“ Accordingly „Could stopping some of these unnecessary and inappropriate antibiotic use in humans and animals to slow down the spread of resistant bacteria“, so continue the scientists from the CDC.

„Resistance spreads at a remarkable speed“
Because the risks of antibiotic-resistant bacteria is immense, according to the US scientists, because „New forms of antibiotic resistance can cross international borders and easily spread across countries.“ Many forms of resistance would spread at a remarkable rate; in the US alone, more than two million people would become infected with these pathogens every year, with at least 23,000 even dying. Alone 11,000 deaths go to the account of the pathogen Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), which is also widespread in Germany and here annually leads to more 100,000 infections. The problem with MRSA: In many people, the staphylococci are found on the skin, without causing the pathogens a disease. The bacteria are extremely dangerous and can trigger severe skin or tissue infections and even lead to life-threatening sepsis when they enter the bloodstream. For example, according to the CDC, in 2011 alone in the US, there were around 80,000 such severe MRSA infections, most of which had been treated in advance in the hospital.

Additional costs of $ 20 billion in infections
In addition to the health risk, according to the authority, the economic consequences of antibiotic-resistant bacteria should not be underestimated, because: „the infections cause significant avoidable costs for the already strained American health care system. Because in most cases, antibiotic-resistant infections require prolonged and / or more expensive treatment, longer hospital stays and additional visits to the doctor, and overall more disability and deaths compared to infections that are easily treatable with antibiotics“, so the researchers in their report. Accordingly, $ 20 billion in treatment costs could be expected, along with productivity losses of up to $ 35 billion annually.

Clostridium difficile particularly dangerous
Of particular concern to scientists in this context are the so-called „Carbapenem-resistant enterobacteria“ (CRE) and the trigger of gonorrhea „Neisseria gonorrhoeae“. Added to this is the rod-shaped bacterium „Clostridium difficile“, which is one of the most common hospital germs and causes severe, life-threatening diarrhea, which can be expected to occur as a side effect of antibiotic treatment. Accordingly „hospital care for Clostridium difficile is required every year for 250,000 people, with the use of antibiotics being the major contributor to the disease in most cases“, the researchers write in their report. At least 14,000 people would die from the CDC's claims of the infection.

Demand for a fundamental change in the daily use of antibiotics Given this situation, therefore, according to the CDC „four core tasks“ to be edited, „which can help combat these deadly infections“: Preventing the spread of infections, tracking the resistant bacteria as closely as possible, fundamentally changing or improving the daily use of antibiotics, and supporting the development of new antibiotics, as well as new tests to diagnose resistant bacteria. (No)