Drug-resistant infections will kill 10 million by 2050
Antibiotics May Cease To Work Due To Overuse; Performing Caesarean, Chemo Could Become Dangerous
Urgent action is needed to control the use of antibiotics before they cease to work, leaving a number of major conditions untreatable and causing “terrible human and economic cost“, a major study has warned. Resistance to antibiotics is growing at such an alarming rate that they risk losing effectiveness entirely , meaning medical procedures such as caesarean sections, joint replacements and chemotherapy could soon become too dangerous to perform. Unless urgent action is taken, drug-resistant infections will kill 10 million people a year by 2050, the report’s authors warn.Drug-resistant infections are thought to be growing due to over-use of medicine such as antibiotics and antifungus treatments to treat minor conditions like the common cold. With over-use, resistance to the drugs builds up meaning some conditions become incurable and so-called `superbugs’ such as MRSA develop.
Research has also suggested that antibiotic use in pig farming is common as poor li ving conditions mean such treatment is necessary to prevent infections spreading between livestock and that this passes down to humans thro ugh pork consumption, increasing resistance levels further. In the UK, 45% of all antibiotics are given to livestock.
The report is the result of a two-year review of the use of antibiotics undertaken by economist and former Goldman Sachs asset managemet chairman Lord Jim O’Neill.The review was commissioned amid growing concerns about the use of the medicines in the UK.
It calls for urgent action to halt the growing use of antibiotics: “to avoid the terrible human and economic costs of resistance that the world wo uld otherwise face.“ O’Neill calls for an awareness campaign on the harms of antibiotic use and restrictions on use of some critical antibiotics and a tax on the drugs to be introduced for livestock use.
The report estimates that without action now, the cost of the antibiotic failure will be $100 trillion before 2050.
O’Neill said of the findings: “My review not only makes it clear how big a threat antimicrobial resistance is to the world, with a potential 10 million people dying each year by 2050, but also now sets out a workable blueprint for bold, global action to tackle this challenge. The actions I’m setting out today are ambitious in their scopebut this is a problem which it is well within our grasp to solve if we take action now… to avoid the terrible human and economic costs of resistance that the world will otherwise face.“
Chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne welcomed the report saying: “O’Neill’s review provides a stark warning that unless we take global action, antimicrobial resistance will become a greater threat to mankind than cancer currently is.
