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Superbug infections double in European healthcare facilities

Infections by bacteria resistant to antibiotics popularly known as “superbugs ” more than doubled in healthcare facilities in Europe, according to a European Union agency. According to information released this Thursday (17), evidence points to a broader impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the scenario.

The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) report states that reported cases of two highly drug-resistant agents increased in 2020, the first year of the pandemic, and then increased sharply in 2021.

The increase stemmed from outbreaks in hospital intensive care units (ICUs) and in European Union countries where antimicrobial-resistant infections were already widespread, ECDC member Dominique Monnet told a news conference.

Data show that in Europe last year, reported cases of the Acinetobacter group of bacteria more than doubled compared to pre-pandemic annual numbers. Cases of other bacteria, Klebsiella pneumoniaeresistant to antibiotics of last resort, increased by 31% in 2020 and 20% in 2021.

The report did not include data on how many people died from the infections in 2020 and 2021. Experts say it can be challenging to definitively assign cause of death when patients were hospitalized for Covid-19, for example.

Some scientists link the rise in hospital-acquired superbug infections during the pandemic to broader prescriptions of antibiotics to treat Covid-19 and other bacterial infections during long hospital stays.

Monnet said that was “the most plausible hypothesis,” but his agency has yet to conduct a full analysis. He also said the data showed declines in cases of some other superbugs common in European hospitals. The ECDC points out that this is because the Covid-19 crisis led to the postponement of operations.

The European report is consistent with a trend seen last year in the United States, where government data showed that US deaths from drug-resistant infections increased by 15% in 2020.

Drug resistance evolves through the misuse or overuse of antibiotics. The concern about this is not new. Experts call superbug infections, including fungal agents, a silent pandemic that causes more than a million deaths annually, but does not attract research focus or funding.

(Edited by Barbara Lewis)

Source: CNN Brasil

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