Romanian health minister aims to limit antibiotic use due to danger of bacterial resistance
Romania’s health minister has drawn attention to the danger of antibiotic resistance in bacterial infections, stating that antibiotics should only be prescribed when necessary.
Speaking at a conference on treating viral infections, minister Alexandru Rafila expressed his desire to make it more difficult to release antibiotics, including in emergency situations. "The danger for the next 20-30 years is increasing because it will bring us into the pre-antibiotic era. What does that mean? It means that common bacterial infections (...) that we easily treat with a five-day course of a common antibiotic, for example, could become life-threatening infections for which we have no treatment," the minister said, cited by Digi24.
"We have only two solutions to keep these things under control. Firstly, to prescribe antibiotics only when necessary and to take them (...) correctly, meaning the right antibiotic for the right infection, in the right dose, and for the right duration of treatment," he added.
The minister also said that he plans to make the process of purchasing antibiotics in emergency situations more difficult. "I can dispense without a prescription, for 48 hours, antibiotics in an emergency situation. There is no one to give you the prescription. There are such situations. (...) Yesterday I discussed with the Pharmaceutical Directorate to find a solution, not to exclude this possibility, but to eliminate the possibility of it being repeated because if someone goes to ten pharmacies and gets antibiotics for 48 hours, they will have a ten-day treatment, and we want to exclude this possibility or make it much more difficult," stated the minister.
According to Alexandru Rafila, bacteria's ability to adapt to antibiotics is "extraordinarily high," and half of the global consumption of such drugs is in the veterinary sector. The consumption of products containing antibiotics generates resistance to them, the official emphasized. Furthermore, he warned that bacteria in the environment, such as in wastewater, and their resistance profiles need to be monitored.
Romania ranks first in Europe in antibiotic consumption, with over 25 doses administered daily per 1,000 inhabitants, at the same level as ten years ago, according to a study published by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) on the occasion of the European Antibiotic Awareness Day, celebrated on November 18, cited by G4Media. The increase in bacterial resistance due to the excess use of antibiotics is one of the most serious public health problems on the continent. Over 35,000 deaths are attributable to infections with antibiotic-resistant bacteria estimated for the year 2020.
For comparison, Belgium, which recorded similar data to Romania in 2012 (25.6 daily doses per 1,000 inhabitants), has reduced its consumption to 17.4 doses per 1,000 inhabitants in 2021. The Netherlands has the lowest antibiotic consumption, three times below Romania's level, while the situation in Bulgaria is the most concerning, with a significant increase over the past 10 years. At the European Union level, the consumption is 16 daily doses per 1,000 inhabitants.
The European agency notes that the situation in Romania and Bulgaria is even more worrying because antibiotic consumption occurs mostly in the community, not in hospitals, in significant contrast to the improvement in this situation in other countries.
(Photo source: Alexandru Rafila on Facebook)
