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Antibiotic resistance is increasing in children

2023-11-18 11:25:08Lifestyle SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

Antibiotic resistance is increasing in children

Antibiotics are often used for infections in children and babies, but they are increasingly ineffective.

Why and what are the alternatives?

Middle ear infections, sepsis, meningitis – if these diseases are caused by bacteria, children are often treated with antibiotics. But only less than 50 percent of antibiotics are effective, according to an Australian study led by the University of Sydney.

The bacteria no longer respond to the antibiotic and are resistant. New and effective tools are lacking. This can be especially dangerous for babies and children because their immune systems are still immature. Your immune system cannot yet adequately defend itself against invading bacteria

Wrong dose

When administering antibiotics, it is not only the correct choice of an antibiotic that is important, but also its dose. This can often be difficult with liquid antibiotics, which are more often prescribed to infants and young children than tablet antibiotics. Because it's certainly easier to give a small child a spoonful of liquid than to force him to swallow a tablet.

"It can happen that parents inadvertently make a mistake when they take antibiotics. In 50 percent of all cases, children do not receive the amount prescribed by the doctor," says Johannes Hübner from the German Association for Pediatric Infectious Diseases.

Antibiotics are not always necessary

If it is a serious bacterial infection, such as a streptococcal infection, a urinary tract infection or a respiratory tract infection, antibiotics are the treatment of choice. They inhibit the growth of bacteria, their reproduction or kill them. And antibiotics work fast – when they work.

Another infection that many babies and children go through are middle ear infections. According to estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO), they are a common and widespread health disorder among children worldwide.

In this disease, the mucous membranes in the ear swell, especially in the very fine and short connecting passage, the eardrum. The secretion can no longer flow and presses the eardrum. This causes severe pain in children. Symptoms can resolve relatively quickly with antibiotics.

Are there alternatives?

Plants that have antimicrobial properties can also be used for some infectious diseases. This includes garlic or echinacea. Oregano oil also has an antimicrobial effect. Saline solutions can help with respiratory infections. For middle ear infections, onion is the classic home remedy.

But antibiotics are often the best solution. An example is sepsis, which should be treated immediately. If this does not happen, in the worst case there is a risk of septic shock which can result in organ failure and death.

Sepsis often occurs when an external wound becomes infected. This is not unusual for children. If the infection passes into the bloodstream or the lymphatic system from there, the infection can quickly spread throughout the body and the condition can worsen rapidly.

Worldwide, there are approximately three million cases of sepsis in newborns alone each year. About 570,000 of them die.

It all starts with the correct diagnosis

It is often forgotten that only a bacterial infection can be treated with antibiotics, but not a viral infection. Therefore, it is important to make the correct diagnosis. This is an important step in treatment.

The situation is particularly dramatic in Southeast Asia and the Pacific. In Indonesia and the Philippines, thousands of children die each year because antibiotics are ineffective.

"On the one hand, not all the antibiotics we have in Europe are always available there. Next is diagnostics. We now identify pathogens very consistently and test for antibiotic susceptibility. Then we use the antibiotic," explains Johannes Hübner from the German Association for Pediatric Infectious Diseases.

The numbers have increased worldwide in the last 15 years. While new antibiotics have been neglected. "Research has neglected antibiotics for a long time because antibiotic studies are not profitable for pharmaceutical companies," says Hübner. /DW


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