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Health experts call on Europe to curb antibiotic addiction

2026-01-03 10:02:00, Sociale CNA

Health experts call on Europe to curb antibiotic addiction

Health experts have called on Europe to curb its reliance on antibiotics as the threat of drug resistance grows, but some countries are using the drugs at much higher rates than others.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) occurs when pathogens such as bacteria or viruses evolve to the point where they can evade existing drugs, making infections more difficult to treat. Overuse of antibiotics can accelerate AMR, which causes more than 35,000 deaths each year in the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

As a result, in 2023, the EU Council called on member states to reduce the use of antibiotics and ensure that at least 65% of antibiotics used are first-line treatments.

However, the bloc has not met any of these goals, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) warned last month.

Across the EU, people received an average of 20.3 daily doses of antibiotics per 1,000 inhabitants in 2024. This is 2 percent higher than the pre-pandemic baseline in 2019 and significantly above the EU target of 15.9 daily doses by 2030.

Antibiotic use also varies widely across Europe. Last year, daily dose rates ranged from 9.8 in the Netherlands to 29.9 in Greece.

That's because it takes time for official health guidelines to reach hospitals, doctors, clinics and patients - and some countries are ahead of the curve in this effort than others, said Evelyne Jouvin Marche, who coordinates research on antibiotic resistance at Inserm, France's National Institute of Health and Medical Research.

In many countries, these trends are going in the wrong direction. Since 2020, antibiotic use has increased in Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, France, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain, ECDC data shows./CNA 





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