Imagine you are sick and need to take antibiotics. And suddenly they don’t work anymore. Sound like a horror scenario? It is. But the danger is real, warn the federal government and doctors.
Antibiotics are among the most valuable medicines we know of. Although blood infections or pneumonia were often fatal in the 1930s, they can be treated well today.
However, the more antibiotics that are used, the greater the chance that bacteria will become resistant to them. This can have serious consequences for humans and animals.
The Federal Office of Health estimates that in Switzerland “about 300 people die each year from drug-resistant infections”. It writes that at the request of Watson.
Antibiotic resistance has continuously increased in recent years and decades. “This development happened under the radar of public perception,” University Hospital Zurich said at Watson’s request.
Switzerland is currently still in a good position compared to other countries, “but antibiotic resistance is also on the rise here,” says Walter Zingg, head of hospital hygiene at the Clinic for Infectious Diseases and Hospital Hygiene.
“Resistance to commonly used antibiotics is steadily increasing, especially in pathogens that cause hospital-acquired infections and in patients with weakened immune systems.”
It sounds similar in the Inselspital Bern: “In Switzerland, too, there has been an increase in antibiotic-resistant germs in recent years, albeit at a lower level than in other European countries,” says the head of hospital hygiene there, Philipp Jent .
A British doctor is now making a drastic call: antibiotic resistance could become the next global health threat, he says in the Times. The man warns of untreatable superbugs. That is a “silent pandemic” and scarier than Corona, the Blick also quotes him.
In the newspaper, the Brit also demands that antibiotic resistance be taken as seriously as climate change – and that we fight against it.
The top cantonal doctor, Rudolf Hauri, told Watson that antibiotic resistance “must be taken seriously”. “They are turning previously easily treatable infections back into dangerous diseases,” he explains.
“There is no denying,” continues Hauri, “that antibiotics are still used liberally and sometimes incorrectly.”
According to Hauri, patients with tuberculosis or certain types of pneumonia would develop resistance. According to the canton doctor, this also applies to infections of the bladder and urinary tract and infections caused by skin lesions.
Switzerland – like the WHO incidentally – is aware of the problem. Because: “The Bundesrat considers the problem of antibiotic resistance as a serious and urgent threat to public health,” according to the BAG.
Since 2016, a strategy has been used to combat antibiotic resistance – “in humans, animals, agriculture and the environment at the same time”.
According to the BAG, there are initial successes: “In the past 10 years, we have been able to reduce the use of particularly critical antibiotics in humans by almost 40 percent”.
And in veterinary medicine, Switzerland actually reduced antibiotics sold by about half over the same period, according to the BAG, “equivalent to about 27 tons of antibiotics.”
Please note: “Antibiotics only work against bacteria, but not against viruses,” explains Zingg from the University Hospital Zurich. “If we could manage to do without antibiotics for viral infections, we would have achieved a lot already.”
“Even in Switzerland, antibiotics are used too often,” says Jent from the Inselspital in Bern.
In plain language: Do you suffer from bronchitis caused by viruses, a cold or a sore throat? “The antibiotics have no effect against them – they only cause harm.”
source: watson
I’m Maxine Reitz, a journalist and news writer at 24 Instant News. I specialize in health-related topics and have written hundreds of articles on the subject. My work has been featured in leading publications such as The New York Times, The Guardian, and Healthline. As an experienced professional in the industry, I have consistently demonstrated an ability to develop compelling stories that engage readers.
