33000 people die every year due to infections with antibiotic-resistant bacteria
An ECDC study estimates the burden of five types of infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria of public health concern in the European Union and in the European Economic Area (EU/EEA).
The burden of disease is measured in number of cases, attributable deaths and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). These estimates are based on data from the European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network (EARS-Net) from 2015.
The authors said “the estimated burden of infections with antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the EU/EEA is substantial compared to that of other infectious diseases, and increased since 2007. Strategies to prevent and control antibiotic-resistant bacteria require coordination at EU/EEA and global level. However, our study showed that the contribution of various antibiotic-resistant bacteria to the overall burden varies greatly between countries, thus highlighting the need for prevention and control strategies tailored to the need of each EU/EEA country”.
The study estimates that about 33000 people die each year as a direct consequence of an infection due to bacteria resistant to antibiotics and that the burden of these infections is comparable to that of influenza, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS combined. It also explains that 75% of the burden of disease is due to healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) and that reducing this through adequate infection prevention and control measures, as well as antibiotic stewardship, could be an achievable goal in healthcare settings.
Finally, the study shows that 39% of the burden is caused by infections with bacteria resistant to last-line antibiotics such as carbapenems and colistin. This is an increase from 2007 and is worrying because these antibiotics are the last treatment options available. When these are no longer effective, it is extremely difficult or, in many cases, impossible to treat infections.
The study was developed by experts at ECDC and the Burden of AMR Collaborative Group, and published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. The results of this study are also used by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to estimate the economic burden of antibiotic resistance.
More about this topic
Antimicrobial resistance is the ability of a microorganism (e.g., a bacterium, a virus) to resist the action of an antimicrobial agent. The major cause of antimicrobial resistance remains the use of antimicrobials in human medicine.Read more
Approximately 4 100 000 patients are estimated to acquire a healthcare-associated infection in the EU each year. The number of deaths occurring as a direct consequence of these infections is estimated to be at least 37 000 and these infections are thought to contribute to an additional 110 000 deaths each year.Read more
Burden of communicable diseases
The Burden of Communicable Diseases in Europe (BCoDE) is an ECDC project that aims to estimate the burden of communicable diseases applying composite health measures (DALYs: Disability Adjusted Life Years) to summarize the overall burden in one single metric and compare the relative burden of each communicable disease.Read more
One Health to Keep Antibiotics Working
15 Nov 2018 to 15 Nov 2018 - For EAAD 2018 ECDC will host the event “One Health to Keep Antibiotics Working” where ECDC will present the latest estimates of the health burden of antibiotic resistance, and the new data on the prevalence of healthcare-associated infections and of antimicrobial consumption in acute care hospitals and long-term care facilities in the EU/EEA.
One Health to Keep Antibiotics Working
For EAAD 2018 ECDC will host the event “One Health to Keep Antibiotics Working” where ECDC will present the latest estimates of the health burden of antibiotic resistance, and the new data on the prevalence of healthcare-associated infections and of antimicrobial consumption in acute care hospitals and long-term care facilities in the EU/EEA.