This is a major problem facing Ukraine. While the war with Russia is still ongoing, Ukrainian soldiers are suffering from injuries that turn into infections. Doctors are seeing an increase in wounds infected with microorganisms resistant to several antibiotics. Due to the presence of explosive drones, the military cannot be evacuated quickly. The injured sometimes wait several days before being treated. “Every explosion is an open wound, and every open wound is an infection”assures Serguiï Kossoulnykov, in charge of a surgery department, reports CNews.
To save lives, once the injured arrive at the hospital, doctors prescribe powerful antibiotics, without waiting for the results of analyzes supposed to determine the best treatment for the infection. “It is impossible to imagine all this without an increase in bacterial resistance”underlines Serguiï Kosoulnykov. Another complication is added: around 50% of injured soldiers developed resistance to antimicrobials before even starting treatment, according to data from Serguiï Kosoulnykov's service, indicates TF1. “They come straight from the battlefield… It’s incomprehensible”assures the doctor. The fact that soldiers operate in static trenches as during the First World War could increase this resistance to antimicrobials. “When we have a concentration of people in one place, that place is going to be very infected”warns the surgeon.
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The WHO specifies that this phenomenon of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is responsible for more than a million deaths each year worldwide. The cause? Massive use of antibiotics to treat humans, animals and food. Furthermore, Ukraine was already faced with the emergence of strains resistant to antimicrobials due to over-the-counter access to antibiotics until 2022. Ukraine has decided to take the subject seriously by increasing the number of laboratories responsible for monitoring drug-resistant bacteria.
