Drug-resistant superbugs from Ukrainian battlefield ‘could wreak havoc in NHS’
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The UK must prepare for the arrival of superbugs that have already emerged from the battlefield in Ukraine, an MP has warned. Liberal Democrat Danny Chambers said the antimicrobial resistant bacteria has already appeared in Polish and German hospitals, and it is only a matter of time before it comes to Britain.
![[Liberal Democrats candidate for Winchester, Danny Chambers (right) looks on as Liberal Democrats leader Sir Ed Davey makes a speech to local supporters and activists during a visit to Abbey Gardens in Winchester, Hampshire, while on the General Election campaign trail. Picture date: Wednesday July 3, 2024.]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SEI_236193139-e079.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
He told Metro: ‘This isn’t an academic concern. ‘We know that antimicrobial resistance is a huge problem in wounds in Ukraine, specifically in soldiers because they’re more likely to get wounded. We know that people from Ukraine are getting injuries treated in Europe. It’s that simple. We’re going to see it elsewhere.’.
![[KYIV, UKRAINE - NOVEMBER 3: A wounded soldier in a military hospital in the intensive care unit on November 3, 2024 in Kyiv, Ukraine. Anastasia, a Ukrainian servicewoman, visits her husband Anton, also a Ukrainian service member, in the intensive care unit. On October 26, while performing a combat mission, Anton sustained severe injuries. He lost three limbs, suffered multiple burns, and lost most of his vision. Doctors are still fighting to save one of his eyes. (Photo by Kostiantyn Liberov/Libkos/Getty Images)]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SEI_236192957-c4c8.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
Since Russia’s invasion three years ago, Ukraine has become a breeding ground for lethal bugs that defy treatment. In times of war, the use of antibiotics by doctors increases as hospitals struggle to cope with the number of people sick or injured. The more antibiotics are used, the more likely it is that resistant infections will appear.
One such type of bacteria is Klebsiella pneumoniae, named after the military physician and pioneering bacteriologist Edwin Klebs. Earlier this month, Harvard Public Health published a report about a 50-year-old Ukrainian soldier who was taken to Germany for treatment after his vehicle was blown up.
The clinicians who looked after him found, among six forms of drug-resistant bacteria, a strain of Klebsiella pneumoniae ‘resistant to every antibiotic that researchers had tested against it’. Such infections are becoming ‘a significant factor that is affecting Ukraine’s defence capabilities’, Chambers said, as injured troops are taking longer to recover or not recovering at all – and using up valuable resources in the meantime.
