Experts have ruled out a connection between the conflict in Ukraine and the persistence of infections

The FT reported on a sick Ukrainian soldier with resistance to almost all antibiotics. Experts interviewed by RBC are confident that the increase in the incidence of such infections has nothing to do with the conflict, and advised against self-medication

According to WHO, the number of patients with antibiotic-resistant infections, which respond poorly or not at all to conventional antimicrobial drugs, is increasing every year in the world. However, in Europe, the increase in the number of people infected with infections that cannot be treated with antibiotics is not related to the conflict in Ukraine , experts interviewed by RBC said.

A surge of interest in this topic was caused by an article by The Financial Times that the number of patients with antibiotic-resistant infections has increased in Europe against the backdrop of the conflict in Ukraine. The newspaper also wrote that in Germany, a wounded Ukrainian soldier was found to be resistant to almost all available antibiotics.

Not all infectious diseases can be treated with antibiotics, Larisa Popovich, DIRECTOR of the Institute of HEALTH Economics at the Higher School of Economics, explained to RBC. For viral diseases, antibiotics are useless, and their uncontrolled use leads to an increase in bacterial resistance and makes future treatment less effective.

She named the main reasons for the emergence of antibiotic-resistant infections as “uncontrolled self-medication,” which people are prone to, and the over-the-counter supply of antibiotics in pharmacies. “The more often the body’s microflora encounters an antibiotic, the more likely it is that there will be strains that will become insensitive to the drug. And then we simply will have nothing with which to fight pathogenic bacteria, and we may encounter epidemics in comparison with which the covid epidemic will seem like child’s play to us,” Popovich explained.

The specialist suggested that the infectious agent could mutate in the bodies of Ukrainian citizens with weakened immune systems. This could lead to antibiotic-resistant infections.

The expert admitted that the spread of infectious diseases could have been caused by the lack of access to clean water in some groups of the population and untimely vaccination of people at risk. According to Popovich, those who became ill could have problems accessing necessary medications.

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Professor of Virology, Chief Researcher of the National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology named after N.F. Gamaleya Anatoly Altstein also told RBC that the resistance of infections to antibiotics is not related to the conflict in Ukraine.

“There is indeed a problem that as antibiotics are used, microbial resistance to them increases and antibiotics no longer work effectively. Such danger may arise simply as a result of normal medical practice. All people are treated with antibiotics, and everyone may already be addicted,” the specialist noted.

In RUSSIA, since the end of August, the seasonal incidence of ARVI and other infectious diseases has been growing, and the number of hospitalizations has also been growing. Patients admitted to hospitals may also encounter secondary infections, often resistant to antibiotics.