'Superbacteria' kill 20 times more than traffic accidents in Spain

In 2023, 23,303 people will die in Spain due to multi-resistant bacteria; due to pathogens that do not respond to available antibiotics. This is estimated by a study carried out by the Spanish Society of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology (SEIMC) presented this Monday in Madrid, which highlights that the number of deaths related to antimicrobial resistance “is 20 times higher than the number of people who died in accidents. traffic”. In Spain, in 2022, a total of 1,145 people died on the road, according to data from the DGT.”

“Our objective is that these data serve to raise greater and better awareness among citizens and professionals about a formidable problem that has a very important impact on health,” said José Miguel Cisneros, head of the Infectious Diseases service at the Virgen del Hospital. Rocío de Sevilla and coordinator of the aforementioned study during her presentation, within the framework of the conference 'Fight against resistance: institutional, professional and patient perspectives'.

Cisneros has stressed that, according to the estimates of the research, called 'SEIMC-BMR 2023' and in which 260 researchers from 130 Spanish hospitals have participated, in our country there will be 159,174 infections due to bacteria that do not respond throughout this year. to treatments for having developed resistance mechanisms against their action.

Among these 'superbacteria', 'Extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli' stands out, a pathogen causing 25% of the cases studied in this research.

According to the work data, urinary infection is the most frequent problem associated with multi-resistance while pneumonia is the infection that causes the highest mortality.. 45% of multidrug-resistant infections occurred in the hospital setting, according to the research, which also estimates 189,535 years of life lost due to these pathogens.

“The study provides knowledge of great epidemiological, clinical and health management value about infections caused by these bacteria in our country,” said Cisneros, who recalled that antimicrobial resistance is, according to the World Health Organization, one of the 10 largest threats to global public health, “one of the greatest challenges we will face in the 21st century.”

In 2019, there were almost five million deaths worldwide associated with antimicrobial resistance, a problem that threatens to reverse the medical advances achieved in recent decades.. If we run out of tools to combat bacterial infections, operations as simple as tooth extraction could become an unapproachable risk.

The figures produced by the 'SEIMC-BMR 2023' study are similar to those shown in the 2018 and 2019 editions of the study (both in mortality and deaths, which, according to Cisneros, “demonstrates the effectiveness of what is being done [to combat antimicrobial resistance] and, at the same time, points out that it is not enough. “It is necessary to pay more attention to the problem,” he stressed.

The work followed for 14 days the multidrug-resistant infections detected in 130 hospitals of different sizes throughout the country, which “represents 40% of the hospital beds available in the country”. Each case was followed up for 30 days following diagnosis to analyze mortality.. In total, 2,307 patients were analyzed – 54% were men – with an average age of 70.8 years.

“Infections due to multidrug-resistant bacteria affect more weakened people, which includes older people, but it is a mistake to think that it can only affect them.”. These types of infections can affect everyone,” Cisneros stressed.

The data from the work, the researchers noted during the presentation, “must be interpreted with caution because they are estimates,” although the methodology of the work and the similarity of the results with other editions allow the solidity of the conclusions to be assessed, they stressed.