Antibiotics, once hailed as a panacea to combat bacterial infections, risk becoming more and more ineffective.
More than 200 scientists recently met in Rome at an EU conference on The Role of Research in Combating Antibiotic Resistance to discuss this worrying development.
The human body is responding less and less to antibiotics. New, more dangerous diseases, stubbornly resisting their power, are developing.
The aim of the conference was to identify future research priorities to tackle the problem of anti-bacterial resistance and human health, addressing both basic and clinical research.
"People trust antibiotics to cure almost any kind of disease. Unfortunately, as recent outbreaks of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) show, this is not the case," says European Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin.
"Antibiotic resistance is therefore the focus of research within the EU scientific funding programmes.
"More research for the benefit of patients is needed to make use of the wealth of information provided by more than 140 bacterial genomes known today. We must also make sure that the pharmaceutical industry continues its research into the development of new antibiotics. With more than €100 million invested by the EU over the last four years in this field, we have supported more than 80 research projects on antimicrobial resistance. We will keep up the fight to find innovative answers to this problem."
The first antibiotic drugs became available in the wake of World War Two to save soldiers from deadly wounds. These powerful drugs soon became known as "wonder drugs" and were generously prescribed against minor bacterial infections or even viral infections, against which they have never been effective.
In a recent Eurobarometer survey, Europeans were asked about their antibiotic habits: 38 per cent of EU citizens had taken antibiotics in the last 12 months (45 per cent of French and Spaniards but only 22 per cent of Danes) out of whom 93 per cent had a prescription.
Due to overuse and mis-use of these drugs, bacterial resistance to antibiotics is now accelerating at a disturbing rate worldwide. Previously effective antibiotics have lost their powers against a steadily growing list of resistant pathogens. As a result, the arsenal against severe, and often lethal, infectious diseases, like tuberculosis and pneumonia, are rapidly diminishing.
Many pharmaceutical companies have pulled out from investments into research on new antimicrobial drugs. The expected sales revenues are no longer sufficient to make up for the costs linked to the development of these drugs. Many companies have instead refocused their efforts on the more profitable treatments for chronic diseases rather than short-course therapies for infections.
On the other hand, considerable progress has been made in recent years to address these problems thanks to gene technology. Today, more than 140 bacterial genomes are known. However, knowledge of the genetic code of an organism does not in itself generate new drugs. In the light of these developments, plans for how to make the most of European-led research in the fight against antibiotic resistance need to be drawn up.
The Maltese setting
Michael Borg, chairman of the National Antibiotic Committee, who represented Malta at the conference, said that the problem of antibiotic resistance is particularly relevant in the local setting.
Research coordinated by the Infection Control Unit of the Health Department showed widespread incorrect use of antibiotics. To this end the National Antibiotic Committee had recently launched a campaign aimed at fostering better knowledge of these issues in the general public. The objective is to make the general public aware of the hazards of antibiotic abuse and encourage them to avoid taking antibiotics without medical prescriptions or putting pressure on medical doctors to prescribe antibiotics for conditions where antibiotics are known to be ineffective. It is only by encouraging such change that the use and abuse of antibiotics can be reduced.
A poster has been published and disseminated to encourage more sensible use of antibiotics. The committee has also printed a leaflet in both Maltese and English containing answers to frequently asked questions about antibiotic use, especially for colds and other common infections. The leaflet is available at Centru Taghrif dwar Sahhtek, St John Street, Valletta,. or by contacting the National Antibiotic Committee on telephone 2595 1659 or e-mail: peter.zarb@gov.mt.