The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with an alarming increase in the overuse of antibiotics, leading to escalating concerns about the growth of antibiotic-resistant superbugs. Despite the well-established understanding that antibiotics are ineffective in curing COVID-19, many patients have been prescribed this class of medications. Amidst the confusion, concern and higher number of patients during the pandemic, antibiotics were administered to COVID-19 patients as a cautious measure against potential secondary bacterial infections. While this trend was global, variations did appear across different geographical regions.
Investigative reports have brought to light alarming data; an estimated 75% of COVID-19 patients admitted to hospitals were prescribed antibiotics, despite only 8% of them having a bacterial coinfection, which is the only situation where antibiotics may be beneficial. The study involved 65 countries and was conducted from January 2020 to March 2023, under the purview of World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global Clinical Platform.
While this is a global phenomenon, the rates of antibiotic use during the COVID-19 pandemic was not uniform around the world. The Western Pacific region, spanning from Australia to China, reported antibiotic usage as low as 33%, whereas in the Eastern Mediterranean and some parts of Africa, this figure was as high as 83%. As the pandemic evolved, there was a marked decrease in antibiotic prescription rates in Europe and the Americas, though rates increased in Africa.
This indiscriminate usage of antibiotics has left a harmful legacy well beyond the pandemic, primarily due to the resultant increase in drug-resistant pathogens globally. In fact, each year antibiotic resistance directly results in at least 1.2 million deaths worldwide. Detailed in The Lancet publication, it’s suggested that effective practices such as improved sanitation, stricter hand hygiene, and sterilization of medical equipment could prevent 750,000 of these deaths in low-income to middle-income countries.
The U.S. too bears the brunt of antibiotic resistance, the effects of which were amplified during the COVID-19 pandemic, reversing gains made in controlling antibiotic resistance prior to the pandemic. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted a nearly 30% decrease in deaths from resistant bugs from 2012 to 2017; however, the pandemic saw a ‘significant increase’ in infections caused by antibiotic-resistant superbugs.
Research conducted by the National Institutes of Health found a startling 32% increase in hospital-acquired antibiotic-resistant infections during the pandemic when compared to figures before the pandemic. Recent data as of the late 2022 also indicate that the level of superbugs in hospitals has remained elevated more than 12% over pre-pandemic figures.
The United Nations General Assembly plans to hold a high-level meeting in September to address the growing problem of antibiotic resistance, in the hope of formulating strategies to deal with this pressing global healthcare challenge.