Infection after treatment is a common complication of many surgical procedures. Now a new study shows that such ailments are becoming increasingly dangerous, as more and more bacteria that cause post-surgery infections are resistant to common antibiotics.
The study published this week in the medical journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases found that as much as fifty-one percent of the bacteria that caused infections after surgeries are already resistant to antibiotics. In the case of prostate biopsies, as many as ninety percent of the infections following the procedure were caused by resistant bacteria, according to Time Magazine.
The researchers suggested that the problem could cause a massive increase in illnesses and deaths from infections that were previously easily treated by drugs. If the trend of worsening resistance continues, they say we could face an additional 120,000 infections and 6,000 deaths annually in the U.S.
Preventive antibiotics administered prior to surgery were found to diminish the problem. Those patients given antibiotics before surgery were nearly three times less likely to come down with post-surgery infections.
Hospitals can institute other simple changes to help stem the growing problem, including improved infection control procedures, more consistent hand washing, and increased tracking of infections. They can also addressing the overuse and inappropriate uses of antibiotics: one previous study found that patients are often given antibiotics for viral diseases, despite the drugs’ ineffectiveness against viruses, and another showed that up to one-third of hospitalized patients are given antibiotics for no reason.