A team from Sweden’s Lund University collaborated with Ukrainian microbiologists to study bacterial resistance in patients injured in the war and treated in hospitals.
Recent research results lancet Infection It shows that many patients had bacteria with significantly higher antibiotic resistance.
“I am a very thick-headed person and have witnessed many situations involving patients and bacteria. But I have to admit that I have never come across such a resistant bacteria.” Lund University says Christian Riesbeck, professor of clinical bacteriology.
Christian Riesbeck says when he was contacted by Dr. Oleksandr Nazarchuk, a microbiologist at the University of Vinnytsia, Ukraine, he had no doubts about helping. In Ukraine, help was needed to assess the degree of antibiotic resistance in bacteria in critically injured patients in hospitals.
In addition to all the human suffering caused by the war in Ukraine, another battle is being waged: the invisible war against antibiotic resistance. This became clear when Christian Riesbeck and his research colleagues analyzed patient samples from seriously injured patients in Ukraine, many of whom had suffered burns. Patients were suffering from infections during their stay in the hospital, mainly because the wards were full and the infrastructure was destroyed.
Samples were taken from a total of 141 war victims, including 133 adults who were injured during the war and eight children who were diagnosed with pneumonia. These patients were admitted to three different hospitals in Ukraine and underwent emergency surgery and intensive care to address their symptoms.
“We have observed that some Gram-negative bacteria are resistant to broad-spectrum antimicrobials, including newly developed enzyme-inhibiting antibiotics that are not yet on the market. Moreover, almost 10% of the samples contained bacteria that were even resistant to the “last resort” antibiotic, colistin. We have previously encountered similar cases in India and China, but nothing comparable to the degree of resistance observed in this study. His 6% of all samples also contained bacteria that were resistant to all antibiotics tested,” says Christian Riesbeck.
He stresses that this clearly highlights the challenge posed by resistant bacteria in times of war. In particular, Christian Riesbeck has expressed concern about the resistance humans display. Klebsiella pneumoniae This is because bacteria can cause illness in people who are healthy and have a properly functioning immune system.
“This is very worrying. It is rare to encounter Klebsiella There was a very high level of resistance, which was not what we expected. Although isolated cases have been recorded in China, the scale of this situation exceeds anything seen before. Many countries are providing military aid and resources to Ukraine, but it is equally important to support them in dealing with this ongoing situation. There is a clear risk of further spread of resistant bacteria, which threatens the entire European region,” says Christian Riesbeck.
Reference: “Highly multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacterial infections in war victims in Ukraine, 2022” Oskar Ljungquist, Oleksandr Nazaarchuk, Gunnar Kahlmeter, Vigith Andrews, Thalea Koithan, Lisa Wasserstrom, Dmytro Dmytriiev, Nadiia Fomina, Vira Bebyk, Written by Erika Matuschek and Christian Riesbeck, May 23, 2023 lancet infection.
DOI: 10.1016/S1473-3099(23)00291-8