The deadly ingredient: bacterial resistance to antibiotics and overcrowding in hospitals

Safe Medicine Association: The dangerous component of patients who are resistant to antibiotic treatment in a healthcare system where there is deadly overcrowding requires immediate steps to address the problem

Irrational use of antibiotics is a real and significant threat to public health. Based on global forecasts, the continuation and expansion of the development of antibiotic resistance could lead to an increase from approximately 6,000 deaths per year in Israel today, to between 100 and 200 deaths per year in 2050, thus becoming one of the leading causes of death, if not the dominant one.

Resistance to antibiotic treatment arises from a number of reasons, but the main cause is unwise use of antibiotic drugs. Antibiotic resistance is on the rise to a dangerous level all over the world. Although this is a global threat with many consequences, in Israel it takes on a different effect since it creates an additional burden on a system that is also facing collapse in the form of an extension of the duration of hospitalization, an increase in medical expenses, life-threatening infections and high mortality rates.

According to the OECD, Israel is one of the countries with the highest antibiotic resistance rate in the world. Already in 2014, due to the high number of infections and deaths in hospitals in Israel, the World Health Organization recommended that Israel take emergency measures with regard to antibiotic resistance, including urgently dealing with the deadly overcrowding in hospitals, and prepare a comprehensive plan on the matter. Unfortunately, such a program does not exist in Israel in 2019. The dangerous composition of patients who are resistant to antibiotic treatment in a healthcare system where there is deadly overcrowding requires immediate steps to address the problem.

Despite the disturbing findings, according to the Association for Infectious Diseases in the Israel Medical Association, Israel does not have a comprehensive national plan for the wise use of antibiotics. The State of Israel (in cooperation between relevant ministries, the Ministry of Health and professional organizations) must announce emergency measures on the issue, urgently develop and implement an inclusive and comprehensive national plan for the wise use of antibiotics.

Raising awareness:

The public struggle to save human life from harm and death from infections in hospitals due to the deadly overcrowding and resistance to antibiotics is led by the Safe Medicine Association headed by Rachel Leykowitz. The association's goal is to bring about a fundamental change in public consciousness in the field of infection prevention in medical centers and thus bring the issue to the top of the national priorities, to allocate resources on a national level, and to develop and implement a comprehensive national plan centered on the wise use of antibiotics and treatment In the lack of infrastructure, etc. required to prevent infections in the medical centers.

The Safe Medicine Association promoted an animated video regarding the urgent issue of resistance in cooperation with the Israeli Association for Infectious Diseases under the authority of Prof. Miri Weinberger and the Rabbi. From the many informative lectures held by the safe medicine association on the subject, in the community and in organizations.

The science site deals a lot with the issue Bacterial resistance to antibiotics

• How can you fight bacterial resistance to antibiotics?
• Nobel laureate Sidney Altman: "It is possible to eliminate the resistance of many bacteria to antibiotics, the pharmaceutical companies are not so cooperative"
• Identifying drug resistance from the analysis of the bacterium's genome
• Antibiotic resistance in Israel