Spain managed to reduce antibiotic consumption by almost 7%

Without losing sight of the fact that the abuse of antibiotics is a scourge that must be combated, it appears that the measures taken recently in our country to prevent the spread of antimicrobial resistance for their employment they produce results.

This is confirmed report “Review of microbial resistance and new antibiotics”which was prepared by the General Council of Colleges of Pharmacy and coincides with the celebration of European Antibiotic Use Day next Monday, 18 November.

According to your data, Spain is among the countries that have reduced the use of antibiotics the most

with a fall of 6.7%, compared with 2.5% in the European Union as a whole over the period 2019-2022, although it ranks seventh in terms of consumption of these drugs. In particular, the European average in 2022, the latest available data, was 19.4 prescribed daily doses per thousand inhabitants per day (DHD), while in Spain it reached 23.2 DHD.

The document provides an in-depth analysis of the current situation with microbial resistance and the availability of new antibiotics. A problem where progress has been made, as evidenced by the reduction in consumption rates following the implementation of the National Plan to Combat Antibiotic Resistance (PRAN), but despite all these efforts, It continues to be one of the greatest threats to global health in the 21st century.

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In this scenario development of new antibiotics so far has not been enough to offset the growing resistance. Over the past five years – from January 1, 2020 – in Only five new antibiotics were registered in Spain – oritavancin, delafloxacin, cefiderocol and combinations of meropenem/vaborbactam and imipenem/cilastatin/relebactam – from the last seven approved in the EU, which also include lefamulin and cefepime/enmetazobactam.

Strategies to avoid the problem of antimicrobial resistance include: importance of vaccination and innovative pharmacotherapeutic approaches, such as those using monoclonal antibodies or phage therapy or phage therapy, a therapeutic approach that uses bacteriophages, which are viruses that infect and kill bacteria, to treat bacterial infections.

Regarding vaccines, the report emphasizes that they are another fundamental element in the fight against infectious diseases, going well beyond their primary function of individual prevention, as they also contribute to herd immunity by reducing the transmission of pathogens within a community. Moreover, in addition to the health aspect, This is an extremely cost-effective strategy.

A recent study in Spain estimates that each euro invested in the Common Vaccination Schedule amounts to between €2.91 and €4.58, with a total economic benefit of around €800 million.