More contacts and less protective measures mean that the number of infections – also bacterial, apart from Covid-19 – is increasing again. Diseases caused by bacteria are treated with antibiotics, if medically necessary. But there are currently supply bottlenecks, for example the drug azithromycin is no longer available at the moment.
Many other antibiotics are only available in very limited quantities, the deputy chairman of the Chamber of Pharmacists, Jürgen Rehak, said in the morning paper Ö1 on Thursday. “In the first nine months of the year, we used twice as many antibiotics as in the previous year,” reports Rehak, who runs his own pharmacy in Höchst in Vorarlberg.
GP Oliver Lammel also noted a significant increase in bacterial infections, according to the Morgenjournal. He runs a so-called sentinel practice in Ramsau am Dachstein in Styria and takes smears from all infected patients, the data is evaluated at MedUni Vienna. The spread of infectious diseases is randomly monitored throughout Austria. “So you can already see that bacterial infections have increased in 2022 compared to 2021. In my practice I prescribed 21 percent more antibiotics.”
Corona measures ideal protective shield
A connection with the abolition of the corona protection measures is obvious: correctly worn the mask would help, “and there was also a certain social distancing and an increased need for hygiene”, according to Lammel. The measures would have significantly reduced the total number of infections, Rehak recalls: “There was hardly any flu, there was hardly a normal cold. People were all walking around with this guard and they too were protected.”
According to figures from the Association of the Pharmaceutical Industry, antibiotic consumption fell sharply in the 2020 and 2021 pandemic years and is now rising again. According to the Morgenjournal, the current demand is still below the pre-corona level.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
