Numerous experts are issuing warnings about the curse of success. Antibiotics resistance is growing at an alarming rate – some bacteria are now already multidrug resistant, meaning that they fail to respond to several different active agents. A survey in the EU revealed that 25,000 people died from infections with resistant pathogens in 2007. In 2015, there were already almost 700,000 infections and 33,000 deaths, around 2,400 of which were in Germany [3]. The US public health authority CDC estimates there are 2.8 million antibiotic-resistant infections and 35,000 deaths in the USA each year [4] and, according to the Access to Medicine Foundation, the global death toll could be as high as 500,000, including 200,000 infants [1].
The primary cause of this is the careless handling of antibiotics during their production and use. For instance, in 2018, scientists examining bodies of water near factories in India found concentrations of antibiotics that were sometimes 100 times higher than permitted threshold values – ideal breeding grounds for resistant bacteria [5]. In India, the resistance levels for many bacteria is already over 70 percent [1]. Similarly, dangerous is the excessive use of antibiotics in intensive livestock farming; only resistant pathogens survive, and these can be passed on to humans. In the USA it is estimated that at least as many antibiotics are administered to poultry, pigs, cattle, and other animals as to people [6].
In addition, doctors in many countries often prescribe antibiotics without checking whether their use is necessary. And we also see a large variation in antibiotic consumption by country: for instance, consumption of antibiotics in Italy and Greece is around two or three times higher than in Germany [3]. If patients then stop taking the medicine too soon, the low concentration of the active agent in the body fails to kill off all bacteria and lets those bacteria that have developed resistance to thrive. The consequence: in relation to the population, the number of deaths due to antibiotic-resistant bacteria in Italy and Greece is five to six times higher than in Germany [3] – and, in Germany, still twice as high as in the Netherlands, where microbiological laboratory tests before elective surgery are often used to identify whether patients are bringing multidrug-resistant germs into the hospital. If this is the case, these are treated beforehand.