Infections with superbugs: 2020 saw a 15% increase in hospital infections and fatalities brought on by some of the most concerning bacterial infections.
Health experts have emphasized that the first year of the pandemic was not exclusively unpleasant due to viral infections. While coronavirus cases are declining globally, several nations are still exhibiting an increase. The number of drug-resistant “superbug” infections increased in the first year of Covid-19 after years of reduction.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there was a 15% increase in hospital infections and fatalities brought on by some of the most dangerous bacterial diseases or superbugs in 2020.
Officials from the CDC believe that a number of factors are contributing to the spike, one of which may be how Covid-19 was handled when it first appeared in the US. Antimicrobial resistance occurs when bacteria and fungi have the ability to resist the drugs intended to destroy them. This occurs as a result of the abuse of antibiotics; unneeded and incomplete prescriptions that didn’t kill the microorganisms just strengthened them.
It was “a stunning reversal,” according to CDC expert Dr. Arjun Srinivasan, and he hopes it was just a one-year hiccup.
According to US health officials, the prevalence of superbug infections was decreasing before the pandemic. Between 2012 and 2017, when 36,000 Americans died from illnesses with medication resistance, deaths decreased by 18%. According to the Associated Press, the government praised hospitals for using antibiotics more sparingly and for separating patients who might transmit the viruses.
Because Covid-19 required the majority of the attention from public health experts, the CDC was unable to keep track of all the superbugs. They still have information on seven different bacterial and fungi diseases found in patients, including “the horror bacteria” CRE and MRSA. The CDC noted increases of at least 15% in the number of infections and fatalities caused by certain pathogens.
According to CDC officials, “from March to October 2020, about 80% of patients hospitalized with Covid-19 received an antibiotic.” This could be one reason. The usage of specific antibiotics increased as doctors used a number of medications to help their patients fight off potential bacterial co-infections as well as coronavirus infections.
By 2020, Srinivasan observed that there had been a drop in the use of catheters, ventilators, and other medical devices, much like there had been a decline in the use of antibiotics. These devices, which are used on seriously ill patients, can allow bacteria that are resistant to medication access to the patients’ bodies.
However, he added, any spike in COVID-19 hospitalizations, such as the one presently observed in the US, raises that risk.
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