As Covid-19 infected people are being given a combination of medications to prevent possible secondary bacterial infections, researchers have warned that the use of antibiotics could result in increased resistance to the drugs’ benefits among the wider population.
In fact, research by the University of Plymouth and Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust has suggested increased use of antibiotics during the pandemic could be placing an additional burden on waste water treatment works as well.
Writing in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, scientists say this could lead to raised levels of antibiotics within the UK”s rivers or coastal waters which may in turn result in an increase in antimicrobial resistance (AMR), where bacteria become resistant to the action of antibiotics.
This would be particularly acute in receiving waters from waste water treatment works serving large hospitals, or emergency “Nightingale” hospitals, where there is a concentration of Covid-19 patients.
The findings are based on reports that up to 95 per cent of Covid-19 inpatients are being prescribed antibiotics as part of their treatment, and concerns that such a large-scale drug administration could have wider environmental implications.
India is already facing onslaught of antimicrobial resistance in view of rampant usage of antibiotics across the country.
Sean Comber, Professor of Environmental Chemistry in Plymouth and the article”s lead author, said: “From our previous research, we know that significant quantities of commonly prescribed drugs do pass through treatment works and into our water courses. By developing a greater understanding of their effects, we can potentially inform future decisions on prescribing during pandemics, but also on the location of emergency hospitals and wider drug and waste management.”
The Covid-19 guidance issued by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) suggests the infected patients should be treated with doxycycline and either amoxicillin or a combination of other medications if a bacterial infection is suspected, but to withhold or stop antibiotics if a bacterial infection is unlikely.
