“The uncontrolled and in most cases unnecessary use of antibiotics for COVID-19 can cause consequences that are more dangerous than the pandemic itself,” says an open letter signed by authoritative medical associations in Russia. The best medical specialists in the country have appealed to all doctors, calling for an immediate end to the widespread practice of prescribing antibiotics for patients with COVID-19, especially patients with mild cases who are treated at home.
In recent months, well-known Russian doctors and representatives of the Ministry of Health have repeatedly warned both doctors and the public about the inadmissibility of unjustified intake of antibiotics. Such statements were made by the chief freelance specialist-pulmonologist of the Ministry of Health Sergey Avdeev, the chief specialist of the Ministry of Health on clinical microbiology and antimicrobial resistance Roman Kozlov, the same opinion is shared by the chief physician of Kommunarka Denis Protsenko, director of the Sklifosofsky Research Institute of Emergency Medicine Sergey Petrikov and other famous doctors.
A joint appeal to the Russian medical community “On the use of antibiotic therapy in patients with new coronavirus infection COVID-19” was released by the Interregional Association of Respiratory Medicine Specialists, the Alliance of Clinical Chemotherapists and Microbiologists, the Interregional Association for Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, the Russian Respiratory Society , Association of Pediatricians of the Moscow Region.
The very composition of the signatories shows how much the leading professionals are concerned about what is happening. The threatening growth of antimicrobial resistance is observed all over the world, and this is due to the uncontrolled use of antibiotics – not only in the treatment of viral diseases, when these drugs are simply not needed, but also in agriculture – in animals whose meat and milk we eat and drink. As a result, new strains of bacteria appear that have acquired resistance to all known antibacterial drugs. This means that more and more bacterial diseases today are more difficult (if not impossible) to treat, and they are becoming uncontrollable.
“It is very worrying that, against the backdrop of a pandemic of a new coronavirus infection in Russia, there has been a significant increase in the sale of antibacterial drugs in pharmacies and purchases by their medical institutions. According to a number of studies, more than 90% of patients with COVID-19 are currently receiving antibiotics. including combination therapy and parenteral drugs on an outpatient basis.Undoubtedly, the current situation will contribute to a significant increase in antimicrobial resistance and have serious adverse consequences in the future.Unjustified antibiotic therapy leads to a number of undesirable phenomena that can significantly worsen the patient’s condition, and sometimes and lead to life-threatening consequences “, – warn the authors of the letter.
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