ANTYBIOTYKOOPORNOŚĆ: NARASTAJĄCE ZAGROŻENIE DLA ZDROWIA PUBLICZNEGO W POLSCE

Antibiotics are considered one of the greatest discoveries of the 20th century. Their introduction into therapy in the early 1940s marked a breakthrough moment in the treatment of infections and infectious diseases. At the time, they were referred to as "miracle drugs". Unfortunately, even before the mass use of the first antibiotic - penicillin, a strain of Staphylococcus aureus producing penicillinases (beta- lactamases), and thus resistant to penicillin, had already been isolated. By the mid- 1950s, as a result of the widespread use of penicillin, more than 50% of Staphylococcus aureus strains were resistant to it. This led to an increase in mortality due to infections caused by resistant microorganisms. In the last decade of the 20th century, the problem of resistance began to spiral out of control. The significance of antimicrobial resistance is evidenced by the fact that it was the subject of the G20 summit held in September 2016, as well as the United Nations General Assembly (September 2016, New York). Today, antibiotic resistance is one of the primary threats to public health worldwide. This danger is recognized by European and global institutions such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the European Commission (EC), the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States. The aim of this article is to present the most important information regarding the scale of antibiotic resistance in European Union and the threats it poses to public health in Poland. The paper outlines key aspects of antibiotics, antibiotic resistance, the underlying causes of antimicrobial resistance, as well as strategies for its containment. It presents data on antibiotic consumption in Poland and the observed resistance patterns. In the concluding remarks, the article discusses fundamental principles for the appropriate use of antibiotics in medical practice, with the objective of limiting the spread of antibiotic resistance both in Poland and worldwide.