Superbugs linked to 80% deaths in BSMMU’s ICU: Report

Send
Bangla Tribune Report
Published : 06:00, Apr 24, 2019 | Updated : 06:00, Apr 24, 2019

Superbugs could be responsible for up to 80 percent death in intensive care unit (ICU) at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medial University (BSMMU), reported British daily the Telegraph.
Four hundred out of the approximately 900 patients admitted to the BSMMU’s ICU— the biggest in the country— last year died, it said quoting BSMMU Pharmacology Chairman Professor Sayedur Rahman.
And out of those deaths around 80 percent were attributed to a bacterial or fungal infection that was resistant to antibiotics, Rahman told the UK newspaper.
Bangladesh, India and Pakistan are seen as drivers of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) because of poor adherence to antibiotic treatment, the non-therapeutic use of antibiotics for growth promotion in farm animals, self-medication and illegal over-the-counter access to antibiotics, says the report.
"Most patients [that die] come from public ICUs where there is strictly no AMR surveillance. And this is the generator of antibacterial resistance," Rahman was quoted saying. "There should be more security... they [antibiotics] should not be available over the counter and others should only be dispensed from hospitals."
A 2015 study in the European Journal of Scientific Research found that over one-third of patients in Bangladesh surveyed were given antibiotics by people without authorisation to do so, says the Telegraph report.
About 70 percent of deaths across all ICUs in Bangladesh could be put down to superbugs, the report quoted BSMMU Microbiology and Immunology Chairman Professor Ahmed Abu Saleh.
“Basically, there is no new antibiotic in the pipeline for future use. At the same time, the available antibiotic drugs are losing their effectiveness – which has made the scenario more dangerous,” he said.
The global threat posed by superbugs is expected to skyrocket in the coming decades and unless effective measures are taken, 10 million people could die annually by 2050 from AMR, a report warned in 2016.
That figure is higher than the total number of people who died from cancer, diabetes and diarrhoea in 2018.
Antimicrobial resistance occurs naturally over time as microorganisms undergo genetic changes. As they evolve, antibiotics can become less effective at treating an infection.
In South Asia the prescription of incorrect or poor quality medicine by unqualified doctors looking to make a quick buck is seen as a driver of antimicrobial resistance, says the Telegraph report.
The emergence of superbugs is not just a problem for South Asia and can be seen across the world.
A 2017 study in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases confirmed that the malaria parasite in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam had developed resistance to the artemisinin-based combination therapy prescribed to treat the disease.

Around the world, resistant strains of the HIV virus are thought to account for between 10 and 20 per cent of infections and up to 40 per cent of those re-starting medical treatment.

/zmi/
Top