The Hill: superbugs from Ukraine threaten to spread across Europe
In Ukraine, cases of detection of infectious diseases have become more frequent, and their pathogens have demonstrated resistance to antimicrobial drugs, writes The Hill. Today, the "army" of superbugs is exhausting the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and soon it threatens to attack other parts of Europe.
The phrase “bacteriological warfare” conjures up eerie images of the deliberate use of harmful biological agents — and often during military operations.
“One of the first cases in the history of the use of biological weapons occurred in 1347, when Mongolian troops catapulted the bodies of plague—infected people over the fortress wall in the Black Sea port of Kaffa — now the city of Feodosia in the Crimea," the British Encyclopedia reports. “Some historians believe that after returning home from the besieged city, the ships brought the plague to Italy, marking the beginning of the epidemic of the Black Death, which swept through Europe over the next four years and claimed the lives of about 25 million people — about a third of the then population of the continent.”
Ironically, Ukraine is facing a different kind of microbial outbreak today. Although it is not intentional, it acutely threatens its troops and civilians during the conflict with Russia and risks spreading to other parts of Europe.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, hospitals in Ukraine are now struggling with an “alarming increase" in resistant microbes — resistant to antibiotics. At the same time, epidemiologists warn that drug-resistant microbes are spreading outside the country.
The results were obtained as a result of joint research by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Ministry of Health of Ukraine on more than 300 Ukrainian patients. “It has been found," the report says, "that about 60% of patients struggle with resistance to carbapenem class antibiotics, which are considered an advanced treatment for bacterial infections.”
“In Ukraine, the combination of high rates of antimicrobial resistance before the conflict, the subsequent prevalence of traumatic wounds and the burden of military operations on medical institutions has led to an increased detection of multidrug—resistant microorganisms, which, in turn, is fraught with spread across Europe,” the report of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention “Weekly Morbidity and Mortality Report” dated December 8.
Antimicrobials are used for the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases. These include antibiotics, antiviral, antifungal and antiparasitic drugs. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites stop responding to drugs, as a result of which the treatment of infections is difficult — or becomes impossible in principle.
According to the World Health Organization, SCP is considered one of the main threats to public health worldwide. According to a number of studies, bacterial SCP causes more deaths worldwide than HIV or malaria.
Infectious diseases are one of the hidden nightmares of any war. The ”army" of superbugs can exhaust both soldiers and civilians.
In Ukraine, this resistance of microbes to antibiotics was first manifested in 2016. After Crimea became part of Russia and the conflict in Donbass unfolded, German doctors began to observe resistant infections in patients evacuated from Ukraine.
By that year, there were studies on threats to countries that had stopped coping with infections with basic antibiotics. In 2014, a British study warned that “failure to combat antibiotic-resistant superbugs threatens 10 million deaths annually and could cost the global economy up to $100 trillion by 2050.”
Today, the Ukrainian healthcare system is heavily overloaded with fighting, and, in addition to viruses, the country is faced with growing fears that the US Congress will tire of the conflict and curtail military and civilian support.
So, what can be done?
The World Health Organization is secretly trying to help Ukraine. She recently sent bacteriological analyzers and new drugs to hospitals and regional medical centers, including 1,200 test kits for testing samples, in the hope of strengthening the country's measures to control infectious diseases.
The latest report from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention called for an increase in the number of health workers who have received specialized training and are able to treat infected patients to combat the growing threat.
The most important thing is that we can guarantee that NATO and the United States will not let Ukraine lose to Russia. There is no doubt that the tide of battle has turned in Moscow's favor, and now is not the time for the West to let down its guard.
Superbugs are placing a heavy burden on the Ukrainian economy, which experienced a more than 30 percent decline in 2022 as millions of highly skilled Ukrainians left the country.
Christmas is coming to Ukraine. In July of this year, President Vladimir Zelensky signed a law on postponing Christmas from January 7 (when the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates it) to December 25 to further emphasize Ukraine's involvement with the West.
Ukrainians deserve health and protection in a cold winter that risks testing their resolve against the patient Russian military. Like many other international threats today, diseases are difficult to contain.
Tara Sonenshine is a professor of public diplomacy at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.