The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
STORYLINE
Three out of four patients have been treated with antibiotics during the pandemic “just in case” they help: WHO
The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday that there was widespread misuse of antibiotics throughout the global COVID-19 pandemic that has potentially fuelled the propagation of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
While only eight percent of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 had bacterial co-infections requiring antibiotics, three out of four patients were given them, “just in case” they helped.
“The advice was very clear right from the start. This was a virus. So it wasn't that that there was a guidance or recommendation that clinicians go in this direction,” said Dr Margaret Harris, WHO spokesperson, at a news briefing at UN Geneva. “But perhaps because people were dealing with something completely new, they were looking for whatever they thought might be appropriate.”
Antibiotic use ranged from 33 per cent for patients in the Western Pacific Region to 83 per cent in the Eastern Mediterranean and the African Regions. Between 2020 and 2022, prescriptions decreased over time in Europe and the Americas, while they increased in Africa.
The highest rate of antibiotic use was seen among patients with severe or critical COVID-19, with a global average of 81 per cent. In mild or moderate cases, there was a considerable variation across regions, with the highest use in the African Region, at 79 per cent.
“The only time you would use antibiotics when you've got a viral infection is if you had a secondary, proven, bacterial infection that was sensitive to those antibiotics,” said Dr. Harris. “So in other words, there were not being used appropriately. […] The main harm, of course, is that if you are using antibiotics, you're unnecessarily you're increasing the likelihood of antimicrobial resistance to those particular antibiotics so that when you do need them for your bacterial infection, they are no longer so useful.”
WHO said it was concerning that its study found that the antibiotics used had higher antimicrobial resistance potential than others that were available.
“If you give somebody a medication that they don't actually need, you are always exposing them to an unnecessary risk,” explained Dr. Harris. “Every time you treat a person for any illness with any medication, a doctor will balance will this medication do the job and prevent whatever the disease is and is that a more important outcome than any of the potential risks.”
These findings are based on data from the WHO Global Clinical Platform for COVID-19, an anonymized clinical data from patients hospitalized with COVID-19.
Data was collected from some 450. 000 patients admitted to hospitals for COVID-19 in 65 countries over a three-year period between January 2020 and March 2023.
The findings are being presented at the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Global Congress, taking place in Barcelona, Spain from 27 to 30 April.
-ends-
STORY: Overuse of antibiotics during COVID-19 - WHO
TRT: 1:48”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 26 April 2024 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
- Exterior med shot: UN flag alley
- Wide shot: speaker at the podium during press conference
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Margaret Harris, spokesperson for the World Health Organization (WHO): “The advice was very clear right from the start. This was a virus. So it wasn't that that there was a guidance or recommendation that clinicians go in this direction. But perhaps because people were dealing with something completely new, they were looking for whatever they thought might be appropriate.”
- Med shot: Camera woman filming
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Margaret Harris, spokesperson for the World Health Organization (WHO): “The only time you would use antibiotics when you've got a viral infection is if you had a secondary, proven, bacterial infection that was sensitive to those antibiotics. So in other words, there were not being used appropriately. If you like the harm, the main harm, of course, is that if you are using antibiotics, you're unnecessarily you're increasing the likelihood of antimicrobial resistance to those particular antibiotics so that when you do need them for your bacterial infection, they are no longer so useful.”
- Med shot: journalist behind screen
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Margaret Harris, spokesperson for the World Health Organization (WHO): “If you give somebody a medication that they don't actually need, you are always exposing them to an unnecessary risk. Every time you treat a person for any illness with any medication, a doctor will balance will this medication do the job and prevent whatever the disease is and is that a more important outcome than any of the potential risks.”
- Wide shot: Journalists in the press room with camerawoman and technicians behind screen
- Med shot, journalist listening in press briefing
- Med shot, camerawoman filming
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNHCR , WHO
The past two months of intensifying Israeli bombardment in Lebanon have been the “deadliest and most devastating” in decades as communities uprooted from the front line have continued to flee across the border to Syria, UN humanitarians said on Friday.
2
1
3
Edited News | UNOG
“State of Silence”: Diego Luna brings the fight to protect the press to the UN in Geneva
Mexican actor, producer and director Diego Luna has brought his fight to protect journalists all the way to the United Nations, in Geneva. Together with documentary director Santiago Masa, he is putting a spotlight on the silencing of investigative journalism in his country, and on the incredibly high price that many journalist have to pay in pursuit of truth.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
“Today marks the grim milestone of 1,000 days since the Russian Federation launched its full-scale armed attack on Ukraine. Our Office has verified that at least 12,162 civilians have been killed since 24 February 2022, among them 659 children. At least another 26,919 civilians have been injured,” UN Human Rights spokesperson Jeremy Laurance told the bi-weekly press briefing in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
With COP29 in Baku now in its second - and final - week, UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk has reiterated his call for urgent human rights-based climate action.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNIFIL , UNICEF , WHO
Lebanon: Increased violence along Blue Line and ‘horrific new normal’ for children
In southern Lebanon, peacekeepers have witnessed “shocking” destruction of villages along the Blue Line and ever-deeper Israeli ground incursions, while the situation of children across the country is becoming increasingly desperate, the UN said on Tuesday.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | UNRWA
The head of the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, confirmed on Monday that a large convoy of humanitarian aid was looted inside Gaza at the weekend, amid a near-total a breakdown in law and order and harassment of the agency’s staff by Israeli soldiers.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA
In the nearly 1,000 days since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, thousands of civilians have been killed, the country’s energy infrastructure is on the brink and drones terrify communities on the front line, the UN’s top aid official in the country said on Friday.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | OHCHR
Mexican actor, producer and director Diego Luna took a break from the big screen on Thursday to highlight the dangers faced by journalists in his country and beyond, condemning murders of reporters everywhere as “a scandal”.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA
Gaza: ‘People are losing hope’ as aid access is refused to north, warns UNRWA
Besieged northern Gaza is a place of dead bodies lying in the streets and hospitals running out of blood packs – a situation that’s “nothing short of catastrophic”, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence & Ajith Sunghay, Head of UN Human Rights Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, on Gaza
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR
Sudan’s displaced have endured “unimaginable suffering” in their search for shelter from the country’s ongoing war, UN humanitarians warned on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
‘Exceptional achievement’: Humanitarians reach over 105,000 with polio vaccine in north Gaza
Despite ongoing attacks and access challenges, humanitarians have managed to inoculate over 105,000 children in north Gaza with the second and final dose of the oral polio vaccine, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.