Milan, 26 April. (Adnkronos Health) – Less than one in 10 patients needed them, but they were given to 3 out of 4. A report from the World Health Organization denounces “widespread abuse of antibiotics” during the Covid pandemic, among patients hospitalized in hospital due to Sars-CoV-2 virus infection. A conduct that “may have exacerbated the silent spread of antimicrobial resistance”. Thus worsening the emergence of drug-resistant superbugs. The WHO report – presented on the occasion of the Congress of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (Escmid) starting tomorrow in Spain, in Barcelona – is based on data relating to approximately 450 thousand patients hospitalized for Covid in 65 countries around the world, in a period of 3 years between January 2020 and March 2023. It emerges that, “while only 8% of patients hospitalized with Covid-19 had bacterial co-infections to be treated with antibiotics”, these drugs “were administered to approximately 75% of hospitalized patients ‘for every eventuality'”. In other words, when in doubt we preferred to use them. Not only that: antibiotics classified by the WHO as ‘Watch’ were prescribed in particular, with a greater risk of inducing resistance. “Antibiotic use ranged from 33% in the Western Pacific region to 83% in the Eastern Mediterranean and African regions. Between 2020 and 2022, prescriptions progressively decreased in Europe and the Americas, while they increased in Africa,” specifies the WHO. “The highest rate of antibiotic use was observed among patients with severe or critical Covid-19, with a global average of 81%. In mild or moderate cases, considerable variation was observed between regions, with the highest use” recorded “in the African region (79%)”. Having used antibiotics ‘because you never know’, the WHO points out, “overall has not improved the clinical results” of those hospitalized with Covid. In fact, if “when a patient really needs antibiotics the benefits” of their use “often outweigh the risks associated with side effects or antimicrobial resistance, when they are not necessary – warns Silvia Bertagnolio, head of the WHO surveillance unit , testing and laboratory strengthening, antimicrobial resistance division – these drugs offer no benefit and pose risks.” In particular, “using them contributes to the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance”. This is why the data in the report highlights the need for “improvements in the rational use of antibiotics – hopes the Italian expert – to minimize unnecessary negative consequences for patients and populations”. “These findings highlight the important need to adequately finance efforts to improve antibiotic prescribing globally – comments Yukiko Nakatani, WHO Deputy Director-General for Antimicrobial Resistance – and discussing them is particularly relevant in view of the next high-level meeting UN General Assembly level on antimicrobial resistance scheduled for September”.
