Antimicrobial resistance leads to 25,000 deaths and €1,500 millions in losses each year in Europe
In the past 30 years, only two new classes of antibiotics have been developed, explained experts and scientists at the B·Debate and ISGlobal scientific debates in Barcelona.
By Biocat
According to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), 25,000 people die each year in Europe as a result of multiresistant microorganisms and their impact in additional healthcare costs is at least €1,500 millions.
An estimated 4 million patients catch hospital infections in the European Union each year, with the risk of them being multiresistant organisms. Nevertheless, “many of the resistances come from outside the hospital, but act like Trojan horses inside,” says Dr. Jesús Rodríguez-Baño, one of the speakers at the international scientific debate The Global Threat of Antimicrobial resistance. Science for Intervention held by B·Debate and the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) in Barcelona from 5 to 7 November. The Spanish Society of Community Pharmacy (Sefac) calculates that 85% of antibiotics consumed in Spain are outside of the hospital setting, above all to treat respiratory infections.
In the words of Dr. Jordi Vila, scientific leader of this B·Debate, "the pharmaceutical industry isn’t investing as much as is needed to research new antimicrobials for economic reasons." Over the past 30 years, only two new classes of antibiotics have been developed "It is much more profitable for these companies to manufacture cholesterol medicine,” says Vila, as patients have to take these drugs for long periods of time, instead of antimicrobials that are taken for a short time with the added complication of resistance.
More information on the B·Debate website.
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