Ukrainian patients are increasingly being denied rehabilitation in European hospitals due to fears of the spread of dangerous antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria.
Olena Moshinets, candidate of biological sciences and senior research fellow at the Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, told this in an interview with Glavkom. According to her, such refusals are due to the fear of European hospitals of infections that cannot be cured with available means.
Moshynets explained that European medical institutions are using new antibiotics to treat resistant strains, but Ukrainian bacteria have already become resistant even to such modern drugs, in particular to cefiderocol, one of the newest antibiotics. This is forcing European clinics to reduce rehabilitation programs for Ukrainian military personnel and patients, as the risk of spreading dangerous bacteria is too high.
According to the microbiologist, Ukraine must immediately respond to this problem, despite the difficulties associated with the war and the economic crisis. Pharmaceutical companies do not register new antibiotics in Ukraine due to the high incidence of resistant infections, which creates a vicious circle.
"The Ministry of Health accuses patients of uncontrolled use of antibiotics, but the problem lies not only in outpatient cases, but primarily in hospital infections," Moshynets emphasized. She noted that it is impossible to avoid hospital infections, but they can be minimized through strict infection control, as is done in Western countries.
Meanwhile, the world press is concerned about the development of the situation. The Sunday Times published an article under the headline "War in Ukraine has revealed superbugs that have mutated and are able to resist antibiotics." The article mentions a study by Christian Risbeck, professor of clinical bacteriology at Lund University, which included the analysis of samples from 141 patients treated in Ukrainian clinics. The results indicate serious threats associated with the spread of resistant infections.
