European Center for Disease Prevention Focuses on Multi Drug Resistant Bacteria

There is an urgency developing in the fight against bacteria. Antibiotics are becoming more and more defenseless especially when even using multiple antibiotics to fight against them. Therefore, newer and stronger formulas need to be developed. Not nearly enough new antibiotics are in development at this time, which makes dealing with the super strength versions of bacteria difficult to handle. What was once handled in a single dose now will take multiple mixes of antibiotics which could leave some patients that are already infected, unable to recover because they are resistant to what is currently available.

In a report recently released by the ECDC (the European Center for Disease Prevention and control, and the EMEA, (European Medicines Agency) it was revealed that annually, approximately 25,000 people in the European Union die from bacteria that is multi drug resistant. There are more than a dozen antibacterial formulas with a more complex activation mechanism that targets the multi-drug resistant bacteria in the beginning phases of being clinically proven and are for bacteria that have antibiotics already available to treat them.

The report also was shown to collect data points to be able to bridge the difference between the resistance strength of bacteria in the European Union and the predictability of any new multi-antibiotic medications that would be effective against them. This report data is submitted to the Centers for their review, and would possibly aid in the agencies’ discussion on multi-drug resistance.

It is most evident in the report that there is a growing distance between the insurgence and strength of infections that arise from resistance to multi-drug-resistant bacteria and the introduction of new antibiotics that would be able to eliminate the bacteria altogether.

In both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, the resistance is growing stronger and stronger and cause bolder and more elevated infections. The growing problems with multi-drug resistant bacteria also affect a growing problem for healthcare costs and time spent out of work. Each year over one and a half billion dollars are spent in the European Union alone.

Most of the healthcare related infections become even more serious if antibiotics are of no help. This could kill even more patients every year if the development of stronger and strategically placed multiple antibiotic agents are created. Pharmaceutical companies need to push for more expedient development. Perhaps the cost of development over profit is a driving factor. Many pharmacies in the United States charge very little or even no cost for antibiotics, whereas other medications bring in billions of revenue dollars.

Better hygiene practices should also be incorporated in tandem with the development of stronger antibiotics. The general public, along with health care professionals and especially hospitals, should begin to incorporate the simple techniques that we seem to have forgotten to try to prevent the spread of germs in the first place. Covering your mouth when you cough, covering your nose when you sneeze, staying home when you are sick and washing your hands to prevent further contamination to others. Proper precautions could drastically reduce infections and maybe even reduce many of the multi drug resistant bacteria that are the growing every day.