According to the European Center for Disease Control and Prevention, consumption of antibiotics in Europe will decrease by 15 percent between 2019 and 2020 in primary care.
“Recent ECDC data shows that total human antibiotic consumption decreased by more than 15% between 2019 and 2020. This has been confirmed in most parts of the EU/EEA. [European Union and European Economic Area] countries, especially primary health care and possibly as a result of the governmental COVID-19 pandemic,” the European Agency said in a statement.
The ECD justifies that the decline over the past two years has been “first in the primary health care sector and may lead to a reduction in the number of primary health care consultations due to a reluctance to seek health care to reduce self-inflicted mild injuries.” Or because it is difficult to get an appointment.”
The European Center says the situation “led to fewer antibiotics for mild, self-controlled infections and had a more significant impact in countries where overdoses and abuse were common before infection”, and speaks of a “lower respiratory infection rate”. Non-Govt-19 infection in the EU/EEA by 2020. “Due to the adoption of measures such as body distance, families, respiratory etiquette, use of masks and hand hygiene.
However, despite this sharp decrease in antibiotic consumption, antimicrobial levels (ADR) are “high for several important combinations of bacterial species and antimicrobial groups, generally occurring at higher rates in southern and eastern European countries,” the control center alerts. on diseases and their prevention.
Antimicrobial resistance affects the effectiveness of preventing and treating increased infections caused by viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites.
According to the ECDC, more than 670,000 infections occur in the EU/EEA each year due to bacterial resistance to antibiotics, and about 33,000 people die from the direct consequences of this infection.
The European Agency for Human Rights estimates that the health burden of antimicrobial resistance is comparable to that of fever, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.
Andrea Ammon, director of the center, noted that “Covit-19 has been in the spotlight since early 2020 and for good reason.”
“However, despite the pandemic, we cannot ignore other major global public health issues such as antimicrobial resistance,” the official said.
“Further analysis is needed to better understand the reasons for this decline [in antibiotic consumption] And that will affect antimicrobial resistance,” Andrea Ammon says of the “good news.”
Therefore, the Director of the European Center for Disease Control and Prevention encourages European health authorities to use antibiotics “wisely” and to ensure “good practices in infection prevention and control”, given the “serious challenge” of antibiotics.
Across the EU/EEA as a whole, the Center stated in the report that “most countries recorded a significant reduction in antibiotic consumption in the community and in the hospital sector between 2019 and 2020, although this decline is generally greater in the hospital sector.” .
Portugal and six other countries (Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia and Malta) immediately announced “a decline in society, but an increase in the hospital sector,” according to the European company.
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