Antibiotic resistance, the urgency of hygiene – Equivalent

The topic of hygiene can sometimes lend itself to ambiguous readings and apparently contradictory messages. The experts themselves warn of some excesses

Very small, invisible, so the problem cannot be seen, or in any case it seems too small for us to do anything about it. If the theme of “antibiotic resistance“, increasingly remembered as the potential “evil of the century” (more than any pathology) by national and global health authorities, as well as in our spaces, rightly calls to responsibility first and foremost the professionals of the healthcare universe, tends to sound out of reach for each of us.

It is a wrong thought, to be corrected quickly, because it is precisely on the “hands” that a lot is played out in the phenomenon of the proliferation of bacteria that “adapt” to the point of becoming unassailable even by drugs. THE’World Health Organization years ago it established a special World Day dedicated to hygiene: “Fighting antibiotic resistance is in your hands”, was significantly the slogan of the latest edition.

The challenge also lies in drugs, with the imperative of therapeutic appropriateness on the part of prescribers and adherence on the part of patients. And then attention, already strengthened in Italy, also in hospitals: “From the timely observation of hand washing to the establishment of healthcare personnel dedicated to infection control and professional figures to guide the appropriate use of these molecules”, explains the president of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità Walter Ricciardi.

The topic of hygiene can sometimes lend itself to ambiguous readings and apparently contradictory messages. The same experts warn against some excesses, especially with reference to children. American health authorities, for example, advise against giving children under 11 a thorough shower more than twice a week, as they need to build antibodies while detergents can inhibit the process. In other contexts, it is revealed that some skin formations, such as warts, tend to reproduce in relatively clean environments, because in unhealthy ones they are overwhelmed by much more powerful viruses.

But it is precisely in the apparent contradiction that the extent of the problem is revealed. The adaptive strength of some bacteria can be such that they develop resistance to drugs. And our primary vehicle is our hands, which touch everything, and with which we contaminate our environments and our bodies. There are no “buts” about this, it’s about washing them, well and always. At stake is health, private and public, in the context of a bitter record of our country in Europe, with 300 thousand infections per year from resistant germs. This figure is destined to rise if we forget the priority of hygiene in our daily behaviour.