India, April 26 -- New evidence from the World Health Organization shows the extensive overuse of antibiotics during Covid-19 pandemic worldwide, which may have exacerbated silent spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
While only 8 percent of hospitalized patients with Covid-19 had bacterial co-infections requiring antibiotics, some 75 percent of patients have been treated with antibiotics 'just in case' they help. Antibiotic use ranged from 33 percent for patients in the Western Pacific Region, to 83 percent in the Eastern Mediterranean and the African Regions. Between 2020 and 2022, prescriptions decreased over time in Europe and the Americas, while they increased in Africa, the report says.
The study found that antibiotics with high...