Antibiotic resistance

A fungal superbug called Candida auris accounted for just 4.4% of all hospital infections in Greece last year, the head of the National Public Health Organization (EODY), Theoklis Zaoutis, said Saturday.

Bulgaria ranks first in the inadequate use of antibiotics. From November 18 to 24, we are organizing a week dedicated to antimicrobial resistance (AR) and COVID-19. This was stated by Elena Tsoneva-Papudjieva from the WHO in Bulgaria at a press conference dedicated to the awareness of antimicrobial resistance and COVID-19, a BGNES reporter reported.

90% of general practitioners do not believe that COVID-19 diagnosis is the reason for the prescription of antibiotics, shows an online poll launched on 22 November, in which by nearly 700 GPs took part.

The excessive consumption of antibiotics by Greeks is developing into a potential public health threat, medics have warned. 

Turkey has ranked the highest in antibiotics use at over 38 defined daily doses (DDD) per 1,000 people in Europe, where the average antibiotic consumption was nearly 17.9 DDD per 1,000 inhabitants per day, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) report published on Nov. 12.

Scientists say they are alarmed by the rise of drug-resistant genes in humans that could soon return us to the days when simple injuries or straightforward infections posed a real threat to life.

The Health Ministry will introduce a quick test to determine the necessity of patients taking antibiotics in a bid to prevent excessive use of the medicine, as Turkey ranks top among Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries for antibiotic use. 

BELGRADE - Health organizations around the world are warning that the overuse of antibiotics, by both the healthcare and farming industries, has led to the rise of superbugs - bacteria, parasites and viruses that are resistant to treatment and could kill millions in the foreseeable future.

It’s World Antibiotic Awareness Week: countries need to reduce unnecessary use of antibiotics to prevent resistance.

Bulgarian hospitals use up to three times more antibiotics than in modern European countries, according to Todor Kantardzhiev, head of the National Center of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases.

In a Tuesday interview for the Bulgarian National Radio, he warned that antibiotic misuse increased the number of resistant infections and the number of deaths caused by them.