“Antibiotic resistance (ie, resistance) to antibiotics appears when the microbe evolves; this is a constant trend, the pathogen develops in such a direction that it becomes more or even completely resistant to the antimicrobials with which it before it could be suppressed. This is how natural selection happens,” explains Dr. Moiseev – Resistance can develop spontaneously due to random mutations, but more often as a result of its gradual accumulation over time, including due to the use of antibiotics.
The problem of uncontrolled use of antibiotics is typical not only for Russia – the fight against resistance has become one of the keys set by the WHO.
“There are many reasons for the growing problem of resistance: this is the increase in the global availability of antibacterial drugs for a long time and their sale without a prescription or misuse (for example, in viral infections – influenza, SARS, COVID -19 ) The widespread use of antibiotics in animal husbandry, “emphasizes Aleksey Moiseev.
Recently, the impact on resistant microorganisms has become increasingly difficult. Pharmaceutical companies and pharmacologists are constantly looking for new options for antibiotics or increasing the doses using the already known ones, trying to use alternative drugs; all of this makes drug therapy more expensive and increases the risk of toxic effects. And now experts are increasingly talking about the problem of “multiple resistance”, when so-called “superbugs” appear that cannot be suppressed by known antibacterial drugs.
“Microorganisms that are resistant to several types of antibiotics at the same time are called multi-resistant or superbugs. They can be transmitted from person to person and, as a result, the prevalence of resistant infections is constantly increasing, leading to millions of deaths annually During the last decade, several strains of pathogenic microorganisms have been formed that are sensitive only to individual antibacterial drugs from the reserve group, “said Alexey Moiseev.
Antibiotic resistance is dangerous for all patients without exception. But first of all, this applies to patients with immunodeficiencies, autoimmune diseases, patients with chronic lung diseases, patients receiving immunosuppressive therapy (for example, cancer patients), as well as older people.
What do we have to do?
Dr. Moiseev gives some advice:
use antibiotics only when prescribed by a doctor and according to strict indications; carefully follow the prescribed antibiotic regimen; even if you feel better, you must complete the prescribed course; be careful about infection prevention (do not refuse vaccination) ; give preference to the actions of narrow-spectrum antibiotics (again, as prescribed by the doctor).
At the same time, a lot depends on the state: it is necessary to strengthen the resistance monitoring system, develop new drugs, reduce the use of antibiotics in agriculture and the food industry.
