Experts warn antibiotic-proof Superbug bacteria threaten global health

[Pastor Dale Morgan]

*Plagues, Pestilences and Diseases

Experts warn antibiotic-proof Superbug bacteria threaten global health*

AFP - Thursday, November 19



[A patient wears a mask in a waiting room of a hospital in August
2009....] A patient wears a mask in a waiting room of a hospital in
August 2009. Resistance to antibiotics is increasing in Europe and
throughout the world because of their excessive use, a deadly and costly
curse according to health experts meeting in Stockholm Wednesday.

STOCKHOLM (AFP) - – Resistance to antibiotics is increasing in Europe
and throughout the world because of their excessive use, a deadly and
costly curse according to health experts meeting in Stockholm Wednesday.

Experts at the 2nd annual European antibiotics awareness day held by the
Stockholm-based European Centre for Diseases Prevention and Control
(ECDC) said new, hyper-resistant bacteria were emerging, threatening the
pillars of global health.

"Some bacteria are becoming resistant to all treatments, forcing us to
use older, toxic antibiotics or combinations of drugs that we are only
familiar with on paper," Dominique Monnet, a ECDC specialist on the
issue told AFP.

The ECDC stressed the situation is particularly worrisome in southern
and eastern Europe where antibiotics consumption is higher than elsewhere.

"We are getting closer to the wall and we are not far from it," Monnet said.

A survey he performed with a colleague on about 100 European intensive
care physicians showed that more than half of them had treated, in the
last six months, at least one patient infected with a bacterium totally
or almost totally resistant to antibiotics.

"Without effective antibiotics, modern medical treatments such as
operations, transplants and intensive care will become impossible,"
stressed ECDC's director, Zsuzsanna Jakab.

Premature children, reanimation services and oncology departments are
particularly in need of efficient antibiotics, she said.

"The pillars of our system based on antibiotics are crumbling," Otto
Cars, a professor at Uppsala University and Swedish expert on the matter
said.

The ECDC estimated at 25,000 the number of deaths annually in the
European Union caused by bacteria resistant to antibiotics, more than
half the number of deaths caused by car accidents.

Hyper-resistant bacteria also cost Europe 1.5 billion euros a year, 930
million of which are paid by hospitals.

And the continent is not the only one affected by the scourge.

The bacteria kill tens of thousands of patients in the United States,
according to official figures.

Experts suspect the situation could be even worse in poor countries,
where antibiotics circulate more freely and are often available without
a prescription.

In Europe, Mediterranean and eastern European countries are the most
affected, whereas hyper-resistant bacteria is less of a problem in the
Netherlands and Nordic countries because antibiotic consumption is not
as high as elsewhere.

Last year, nine European countries including Italy, Spain and Portugal
had E.coli infection rates higher than 25 percent, compared to two
percent in 2003.

E.Coli is one of the most common resistant bacterium.

Experts lauded awareness campaigns on the use of antibiotics put in
place by governments in France, Britain, Belgium, Sweden and elsewhere.

They pointed out that infection rates with the methicillin-resistant
golden staph bacteria had decreased in many European countries since
2003, an example of these campaign's results.

"There is cause to be optimistic," Monnet said, nevertheless calling for
awareness because "a bacterium can evolve in 20 to 30 minutes."

Experts warned that one of the biggest problems in fighting
hyper-resistant bacteria is that few new antibiotics are being developed
by the profit-conscious pharmaceutical industry.

Swedish expert Otto Cars stressed only two truly promising antibiotics
were currently being developed.