Drug resistant germs growing health threat in Europe

June 21, 2007

Free Market Foundation

The emergence of drug-resistant microbes especially tuberculosis and HIV poses a threat to public health in Europe, according to the authors of a new European Union (EU) report.

According to EU’s European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC):

Germs resistant to antibiotics are rapidly spreading in hospitals across the 27-member bloc.

About 3 million people become infected every year while receiving health care; about 50,000 of them die.

Tuberculosis remains a large threat, with nearly 60,000 cases reported in 2005.

About 27,000 new HIV cases were identified in 2005 for a total of 700,000.

Estonia had by far the highest rate of infection, with 467 cases per 1 million residents, ahead of Portugal and Britain.

“It is unacceptable to me that one in every 10 patients entering hospital in the EU will catch an infection there,” EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou said in a statement. “Supporting action to address this problem will be a priority for the Commission and for ECDC in the coming year.”

Source: Drug-resistant germs growing health threat in Europe, Pravda, June 7, 2007; based upon: Edited by Andrew Amato-Gauci and Andrea Ammon, The First European Communicable Disease Epidemiological Report, European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, June 7, 2007.

For text: http://english.pravda.ru/news/society/07-06-2007/92977-desease_europe-0

For EU report: http://www.ecdc.eu.int/pdf/Epi_report_2007.pdf

For more on Health Issues: http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_Category=16

FMF Policy Bulletin/ 12 June 2007