Researchers called for action against drug-resistant superbugs, which a global analysis projects will kill nearly 40 million people over the next 25 years.
Superbugs are strains of bacteria or pathogens that have become resistant to antibiotics, making them much harder to treat, and have been recognized as a rising threat to global health. The analysis has been billed as the first research to track superbugs globally over time, and estimate what could happen next.
According to the study in the Lancet journal, between 1990 and 2021, more than a million people died a year across the world from the superbugs, also called antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
While deaths from superbugs among children under 5 years of age actually fell by more than 50 percent over the last three decades, due to improving measures to prevent and control infections for infants, the deaths of over 70s have surged by more than 80 percent over the same period, indicating that the aging population has become more vulnerable to infections.
Deaths from infections of MRSA, a type of staph bacteria that has become resistant to many antibiotics, doubled to 130,000 in 2021 from over three decades earlier, the study said.
The researchers used modeling to estimate the number of deaths from AMR, which they predict will directly kill 39 million people over the next quarter century, and contribute to a total of 169 million deaths.
If the world works to improve care for severe infections and access to antimicrobial drugs, it could save the lives of 92 million people by 2050, their modeling suggested.
AMR is a natural phenomenon, but the overuse and misuse of antibiotics in humans, animals, and plants has made the problem worse.
The scientists’ findings highlight AMR as a significant global health threat that continues to grow, and emphasizes the need for immediate action and education to prevent the further misuse and abuse of antibiotics.
Antibiotics are one of humanity’s greatest creations, which when properly used, allow us to effectively treat many infections and diseases. However, due to our propensity towards ignorant usage and willful abuse, it has also led to the rise of superbugs. Reversing the damage and preventing a global health crisis will require our full cooperation, which includes educating ourselves, followed by proper and disciplined usage.
The scientists and experts can only do so much to warn us, but in the end, whether or not the superbugs will win will depend on our collective decision to make the most of the scientific breakthroughs that we have been gifted with.*
