More than 1.2 million people died in 2019 from infections caused by bacteria resistant to multiple antibiotics. According to the new Global Research on Antimicrobial Resistance report published in the Lancet, this number is higher than the deaths caused by HIV/AIDS or malaria. It adds that aside from the 1.27 million deaths that can be directly attributed to antimicrobial resistance (AMR), it is also associated with about 4.95 million deaths.
Global health officials have repeatedly warned about the rise of drug-resistant bacteria and other microbes due to the misuse and overuse of antibiotics, which enables microorganisms to evolve into “superbugs.”
“These new data reveal the true scale of antimicrobial resistance worldwide… Previous estimates had predicted 10 million annual deaths from AMR by 2050, but we now know for certain that we are already far closer to that figure than we thought,” said Chris Murray, co-author of the study and professor at the University of Washington.
Most of 2019’s deaths were caused by drug resistance in lower respiratory infections such as pneumonia, followed by bloodstream and intraabdominal infections. AMR’s impact is now most severe in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, while around 1 in 5 deaths is among children aged under 5 years.
Last year, the World Health Organization warned that none of the 43 antibiotics in development or recently approved medicines were enough to combat AMR. In response, it has declared a global health crisis, setting up a task force to study alternative treatments.
Scientists are looking into new treatment models to fight AMR, including research that involves bacteria-eating viruses called bacteriophages or phages. These have been used to treat infections in Russia and Eastern Europe for over a century but has been largely overlooked in the EU and US.
The world has been hyper-focused on COVID-19 over the past two years but researchers believe AMR presents a long term challenge that we have to start addressing as early as possible. Medical research into alternative treatments may not yet be our expertise but in developing countries like the Philippines, an educational campaign into the proper use of the antibiotics that are prone to misuse and abuse should help slow down the emergence of superbugs that could make life extra difficult for doctors treating the affected.*
