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The WHO warns of increasing resistance of bacteria to antibiotics

According to the World Health Organization, antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest health threats in the future. 

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According to the World Health Organization (WHO), between 2018 and 2023 there has been an increase of 40% (between 5% and 15% on average per year). Moreover, it has stressed that resistance to antibiotics is one of the biggest health threats.

According to the latest data published this Monday by the WHO, one in six infections analyzed contains resistant bacteria. 

The situation is particularly worrying in Africa (one in five have antibiotic resistance) and Asia and the Middle East (the percentage of resistant bacteria is one in three). 

They've analyzed 22 antibiotics commonly used for urine, gastrointestinal or blood infections. 

Specifically, these antibiotics have been used to measure the resistance of eight bacteria (E.coli, salmonella, estafilococo aureus or estreptococo pneumoniae, among others)  

"Antimicrobial resistance is growing faster than advances in medicine," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned in the presentation of the study. 

According to the UN health agency, it is e.coli and klebsiella pneumoniae that are showing increasing resistance to antibiotics. 

More than 40% of the e.coli bacteria studied and 55% of the k.pneumoniae bacteria are third-generation cephalosporin resistant — the most common antibiotic to treat the infections they cause. 

Resistance to high-use antibiotics requires the use of high-end antibiotics, often expensive or difficult to access in developing countries.

The organization has stressed that one of the keys to combating this phenomenon is the non-use of antibiotics for bacterial infection.

He recalled that vaccines and simple hygiene standards, such as frequent hand washing, are other weapons to prevent bacterial infections.

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