Brussels, 16/11/2015 (Agence Europe) - European citizens are not sufficiently aware about antibiotic resistance. This is the conclusion from a new study by the World Health Organisation (WHO) published on Monday 16 November during the European Antibiotics Awareness Day (this marked the launch of the global week on the same theme).
Antibiotic resistance is characterised by the ability of a microorganism to resist antibiotic treatment to which it was previously sensitive. The WHO study was carried out among 10,000 people in 12 countries (including Serbia and the Russian Federation, subsequent covering the European continental mainland). It demonstrated that 64% of people questioned were aware that antibiotic resistance can harm their health but that they do not know how this affects them or what they can do to rectify this.
The European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) confirmed these results in a publication of its most recent data. In a report focusing on Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE), the European agency showed that the situation was continuing to deteriorate in the European Union, with eight countries having flagged up an endemic situation with this infection. The ECDC also highlights the fact that the consumption of antibiotics fell for the first time in five European countries (Denmark, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden) but that the consumption of antibiotics in the hospital sector, in general for Carbapenemase, continued to increase. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)