Medicosnext
Through the years, there has been a consistent rise of drug-resistant microbes due to misuse/overuse of antibiotics. A recent report, “The Global Research on Antimicrobial Resistance”, published in The Lancet, reveals that in 2019 more than 1.2 million people died from infections caused by bacteria resistant to multiple antibiotics. Drug resistance in lower respiratory tract infections, along with bloodstream and intra-abdominal infections, were the most frequent cause for fatalities.
Analyzing data from 204 countries, the report also stated that antimicrobial resistance (AMR) was associated with about 4.95 million other deaths. The World Health Organization had warned last year that none of the 43 antibiotics in development or recently approved drugs could combat AMR, the impact of which is most severe in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia. Additionally, around one in five deaths is in children under five years of age. Some experts are of the view that one of the ways to tackle AMR is to look for a new treatment model, rather than the traditional model followed since the discovery of penicillin.
