Antibiotic resistance is becoming a problem for treatment of injured soldiers, the Health Ministry of Ukraine has said.

"Unfortunately, some injured soldiers suffer infectious complications today caused by pathogens that are resistant to these medicines in more than 75% and sometimes up to 100% cases," it said following the discussion of the issue at a meeting of the Health Ministry's leadership with the Medical Forces Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Public Health Center, volunteer organizations, and representatives of the civil society.

The situation with resistance of hospital strains of bacteria to ceftriaxone and levofloxacin is very difficult, the ministry said.

"The problem with antibiotic resistance has reached a critical level. This happened, in particular, due to excessive and irrational use of antibiotics for disease prevention and treatment, the inability to observe the minimum hygiene requirements in the frontline territories, and the overload of the healthcare system," it said.

According to the ministry, another problem is uncontrolled supply and use of antibiotics that were delivered to Ukraine as humanitarian aid.

The main recommendations have been developed for further fight against antibiotic resistance during the treatment of injured people.

They include, in particular, strengthening control over the use of antibacterial drugs for empirical treatment and prevention of infectious complications and assistance to bacteriological laboratories with consumables to determine the sensitivity of isolated pathogens to antibiotics.

In addition, it is recommended to strengthen infection control, including hand hygiene, use of personal protective equipment, cleaning and disinfection of surfaces, sterilization of instruments, etc.