Experts have warned that a global revolution in the use of antibiotics is needed in order to prevent millions of unnecessary deaths.
The Review on Antimicrobial Resistance, led by Lord Jim O’Neil, stated that medicine is at risk of “being cast back into the dark ages” if drastic measures aren’t taken.
Superbugs that are resistant to antibiotics already kill an estimate 700,000 people worldwide each year. But according to this latest report, by 2050, it’s predicted that 10 million could die – or the equivalent of one person every three seconds.
Lord Jim O’Neill, who is actually an economist, called for the review, and said of the study: “We need to inform in different ways, all over the world, why it’s crucial we stop treating our antibiotics like sweets.”
He also described that the changes to the medical industry required would be “out of the comfort zone,” but warned if people didn’t get on board, the problem would only get worse.
The report made several recommendations, mainly around improving infection prevention methods like sanitisation and immunisation.
It also advised that farmers reduce the unnecessary antibiotic use in agriculture, and ban completely those that are highly critical to human health.
According to the study, there has not been a new form of antibiotic discovered since the 1980s, and the report anticipates problems with motivating pharmaceutical companies to do so.
As any new antibiotic would be kept back for emergencies (in the case of other forms failing), the pharmaceutical company would not make back the money spent on research and development.
Not necessarily an attractive business opportunity. But certainly a necessary medical one.
Dr Grania Brigden from Medecins Sans Frontieres, told the BBC that the study was an important first step, but that it didn’t go far enough at explaining the problem.
