The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Monday warned that the
continued abuse and unauthorised use of antibiotics to treat
COVID-19 may cause antibiotic resistance by some bacterial
infections over time.
This is even as it added that more people may die during and
after the COVID-19 pandemic because the available antibiotics may
be insufficient and able to treat their infections.
It has, therefore, reiterated that the choice of antibiotics
must be based on the clinical diagnosis, local epidemiology, and
antibiotic susceptibility, as well as the treatment guideline.
The WHO Country Representative, Dr. Fiona Braka, said this at
the daily briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increased use of
antibiotics, which ultimately leads to bacterial resistance, that
will ultimately increase the burden of diseases and deaths during
the pandemic and beyond.
“New antimicrobial resistance data released by WHO shows that
globally, a worrying number of bacterial infections are
increasingly resistant to the medicines at hand to treat them. We
also know that based on evidence, only a small proportion of
COVID-19 patients do need antibiotics to treat subsequent bacterial
infections.
“The organization has released new clinical management
guidelines not to provide antibiotic therapy prophylaxis to
patients with mild COVID-19 or to patients with suspected or
confirmed moderate COVID-19 illness, unless there is a clinical
indication to do so.”
She added: “We have also released a WHO off-labour use of
medicines for COVID-19, scientific brief, and a WHO medical product
alert to warn consumers, health care professionals, and health
authorities against a growing number of falsified medical products
that claim to prevent, detect, treat or cure COVID-19.
“As mentioned by the Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for
Disease Control (NCDC) at the last briefing, the national team has
reviewed the global guidance and has contextualise it to the case
of Nigeria, and there is now an updated national interim guideline
for clinical management of COVID-19 released last week.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Monday warned that the
continued abuse and unauthorised use of antibiotics to treat
COVID-19 may cause antibiotic resistance by some bacterial
infections over time.
This is even as it added that more people may die during and
after the COVID-19 pandemic because the available antibiotics may
be insufficient and able to treat their infections.
It has, therefore, reiterated that the choice of antibiotics
must be based on the clinical diagnosis, local epidemiology, and
antibiotic susceptibility, as well as the treatment guideline.
The WHO Country Representative, Dr. Fiona Braka, said this at
the daily briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increased use of
antibiotics, which ultimately leads to bacterial resistance, that
will ultimately increase the burden of diseases and deaths during
the pandemic and beyond.
“New antimicrobial resistance data released by WHO shows that
globally, a worrying number of bacterial infections are
increasingly resistant to the medicines at hand to treat them. We
also know that based on evidence, only a small proportion of
COVID-19 patients do need antibiotics to treat subsequent bacterial
infections.
“The organization has released new clinical management
guidelines not to provide antibiotic therapy prophylaxis to
patients with mild COVID-19 or to patients with suspected or
confirmed moderate COVID-19 illness, unless there is a clinical
indication to do so.”
She added: “We have also released a WHO off-labour use of
medicines for COVID-19, scientific brief, and a WHO medical product
alert to warn consumers, health care professionals, and health
authorities against a growing number of falsified medical products
that claim to prevent, detect, treat or cure COVID-19.
“As mentioned by the Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for
Disease Control (NCDC) at the last briefing, the national team has
reviewed the global guidance and has contextualise it to the case
of Nigeria, and there is now an updated national interim guideline
for clinical management of COVID-19 released last week.