Poland is in the forefront of countries abusing antibiotics. Doctors prescribe them often in the event of a viral infection, although antibiotics only destroy bacteria. But the patients themselves are also to blame - they do not finish the therapy or take medications on their own.

Do you ask the doctor for a prescription forantibioticor, what's worse, do you use your own medicine cabinet for the drugs left over from your previous illness? Due to such unwise conduct, pathogenicbacteriamay becomeantibiotic resistance(so-calledantibiotic resistance ). And this has many serious consequences. Most important: drugs that have so far fought disease and often saved lives become ineffective against severe diseases.

Antibiotic - what is it?

A group of drugs known as this are substances that have bactericidal and bacteriostatic properties, i.e. inhibit the growth of bacteria. They are used in the treatment of humans, animals and sometimes plants. The classification of these substances includes several classes of antibiotics that differ in their chemical structure and range of action. Not all antibiotics are effective against all bacteria - a particular antibiotic may be effective against one or more types of bacteria. On the other hand, bacteria that are insensitive to certain drugs are also often resistant to other drugs with the same mechanism of action (so-called cross-resistance). Aboutantibiotic resistancewe say when a given antibiotic loses its bactericidal and bacteriostatic properties. There is a phenomenon of natural antibiotic resistance - some bacteria are naturally resistant to selected antibiotics. More dangerous, however, is the acquired antibiotic resistance.

Dangerous antibiotic resistance

Acquired antibiotic resistance is a condition in which bacteria previously sensitive to the antibiotic used lose this feature as a result of genetic changes (mutations). Then, despite the presence of the drug, the bacteria continue to multiply, thus prolonging the duration of the disease, and this consequently leads to the need for a much more complex therapy in order to effectively fight microorganisms. Scientists from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) point out thatThe insensitivity of bacteria to antibiotics is one of the most serious challenges of modern medicine and a serious threat to the public he alth of the inhabitants of the European Union. It is estimated that every year 25,000 Europeans are dying from an infection caused by antibiotic-resistant microbes. The threat of the development of antibiotic resistance worldwide, as well as the misuse of antibiotics, is also great that the World He alth Organization (WHO) has developed a global strategy enabling individual countries to implement antibiotic resistance monitoring systems in their area and apply effective solutions to this problem.

Important

4 simple rules - how to take antibiotics wisely

Reasonable and justified use of antibiotics can stop the development of antibiotic resistance.

  • The rational use of antibiotics comes down to taking the entire recommended dose of the drug and not stopping the treatment even in the event of the most persistent symptoms, such as fever, ceasing, because doing so prevents the complete elimination of pathogenic microorganisms from the body.
  • The same negative effect may occur in the case of taking too low doses of the drug, because it makes it impossible to achieve the appropriate concentration of the antibiotic to defeat pathogenic bacteria. The time spent on ineffective fight works to the advantage of bacteria - then they improve their drug resistance mechanisms and effectively transfer the genes responsible for antibiotic insensitivity among themselves.
  • In addition to strict adherence to medical recommendations during antibiotic treatment, it is also important to protect against infections, which can be obtained through preventive vaccinations. Regardless of the circumstances, you should also remember to follow the basic rules of hygiene, especially frequent hand washing.
  • Physicians are advised to prescribe narrow-spectrum antibiotics and inform patients about the need to follow the recommendations during antibacterial therapy, and collect material for bacteriological culture early.

Is it a virus or a bacteria?

The most common infections we get, regardless of the season - i.e. colds and runny nose, but also pharyngitis, laryngitis, tracheitis, bronchitis - are almost always caused by viruses and the use of an antibiotic, which is an antibacterial drug, in in this case, it is unjustified and has adverse effects - from the elimination of the natural bacterial flora that protects the body against colonization with pathogenic microorganisms, to the occurrence ofantibiotic resistance. Scientists highlighted the relationship between the spread of drug resistance and the use of antibiotics. In countries where the use of this type of drugs has been reduced (e.g. Japan or Finland), there has been a significant quantitative decline in strains of resistant bacteria, and where the number of people taking antibiotics remains at a very high level (France, Italy, the United States), there is a high level of resistant strains. Poland is in the lead in the classification of countries where antibiotics are abused (data from ESAC - the European Antibiotic Consumption Monitoring Program).

Culture - important test before starting antibiotic therapy

One of the most common causes of overuse of antibiotics is insufficient diagnosis of the causes of the disease - doctors rarely collect material for culture, the preparation of which would give a clear answer to the question of what microorganism causes the ailments. Often, the material for the culture is collected only during the next visit, for which the patient comes due to the failure of the previous treatment. As shown by the results of studies carried out in one of the provinces as part of the National Antibiotic Protection Program, it happens that GPs write out a prescription for an antibiotic, knowing that the patient reporting to them has a viral infection. Taking antibiotics that are unjustified or inconsistent with the recommendations (shortening the time of taking the drug, lowering the dose, non-compliance with the recommended dosing frequency) accelerates the emergence and spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the environment, because the assumed drug concentration may turn out to be insufficient to completely eliminate these pathogenic microorganisms. When exposed to an antibiotic, sensitive bacteria die, while resistant bacteria continue to grow and multiply.

This will be useful to you

Antibiotic with … probiotic

ANTIBIOTIC ACTION is not only about the elimination of pathogenic bacteria, but also leads to disturbances in the intestinal microflora, which may manifest itself in diarrhea and other intestinal disorders. For this reason, doctors have long been looking for an effective method of populating the intestines with he althy microflora after antibiotic therapy. Scientists' identification of bacterial species that are part of the colon microflora has led to the development of mixtures of these microbes that are used after antibiotic treatment. Regular intake of preparations containing freeze-dried live bacteria, i.e. probiotics, is to prevent or even completely cure many types of diseases.The vast majority of commonly used probiotics contain species such as Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium - both have been recognized by scientists as non-pathogenic, so they can be safely used in post-antibiotic treatments (their effectiveness has been proven in vitro).

Bacteria grow stronger

Frequent treatment with antibiotics leads to the spread of the phenomenon of insensitivity to the medications used among bacteria, as their drug resistance mechanisms are constantly improved. There are several mechanisms of drug resistance. Bacterial resistance to antibiotics is sometimes related to the lack of an antibiotic receptor or is the result of too low affinity. An antibiotic may also be ineffective because of the impermeable cell wall of the bacteria or because of the production of specific enzymes, the production of which is sometimes not a direct response to the antibiotic used. For example, staphylococcal strains produce penicillinases, which is not dependent on the antibiotics used (this resistance existed before penicillin was marketed). Thanks to this, the bacteria can function without any problems despite the applied therapy, and the resistance mechanisms can be exchanged between bacteria - or even between their different species - and preserved in the next generations of these microorganisms. This could lead to the emergence of entirely new strains insensitive to commonly used drugs. The consequence of this phenomenon may be the spread of dangerous, even fatal infections, even on a global scale! More and more often, there is a lack of alternative therapeutic solutions in the treatment of infections considered to be harmless, because the commonly used antibiotics, until recently considered an effective weapon in the fight against bacteria, do not work, and thus the treatment is sometimes difficult. An additional problem is the use of antibiotics belonging to the same groups of chemical compounds to treat bacterial infections in animals as antibiotics used in human therapies. Therefore, the issue of antibiotic resistance is increasing its scope. In addition to the use of antibiotics and other antibacterial substances in human and veterinary treatments, their use in agriculture and industry also contributes to this (e.g. the addition of antibiotics to animal feed or even to interior paints).

Antibiotic therapy - dangerous consequences

The problem of antibiotic resistance has become a serious threat to public he alth. Bacteria that have resistance to many antibiotics (so-called multi-drug resistance) are able to inducevarious infections, e.g. urinary tract, skin, blood, pneumonia. Often, due to the occurrence of the phenomenon of antibiotic resistance, hospital patients are exposed to infections that are not the direct cause of hospital treatment, and above all they are particularly sensitive to blood infections or infections of the operated sites. Treatment of infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria is an additional difficulty - the use of ineffective antibiotics forces the choice of other drugs, and thus the time to start appropriate treatment is delayed, which may lead to complications. Theoretically, bacteria may soon become resistant to all the antibiotics available to us, and then we would go back to the times before the use of these drugs, and thus organ transplants, chemotherapy (immunity is lowered) and even simple surgery would be practically impossible. The risk of developing bacterial diseases that we have long forgotten and which we have deemed to be completely eliminated would also return.

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