England’s former chief medical officer has warned the world of a growing antibiotic emergency in the coming years that could claim millions of lives and have dire consequences for people around the world.
According to estimates, the death rate from AMRs will more than double by 2025, with the figure expected to result in nearly 40 million deaths from superbugs over the next 25 years. The elderly may be at greater risk. The Guardian Reported
According to Dame Sally Davies, routine procedures such as surgery and childbirth can pose real risks and pose widespread fatal risks due to the spread of bacteria that have antimicrobial resistance (AMR). .
The United Nations Environment Program explains that, “AMR occurs when microorganisms, such as bacteria, viruses, parasites, or fungi, become resistant to antimicrobial treatments to which they were previously susceptible. More The more microbes are exposed to pharmaceuticals like antibiotics, the more likely they are to adapt to them.”
About a million people die each year due to the spread of microbial resistance, and that number will rise over the next 25 years, Davis said. Observer And added “It’s really scary”.
Researchers say that as people get older, they tend to live with chronic diseases and become more susceptible to AMR.
Doctors have tried to limit prescribing antibiotics to patients as much as possible, while patients have been pressured to finish courses of treatment.
However, medical misuse of antibiotics is not the only way that resistance develops. This stems from the fact that approximately 70% of antibiotics are administered to livestock, which leads to resistance in animals.
“We’re basically throwing antibiotics at cows and chickens and sheep as a cheap alternative to giving them growth promoters or preservatives to stop the spread of disease,” Davis said.
“Bacteria take about 20 minutes to grow. They also mutate a lot, and if they do that in the presence of antibiotics and that mutation protects them, these strains will multiply. The bottom line is That they can pass it on to any bacteria they come into contact with,” he added.
AMR is spreading easily and it is becoming more and more important not to misuse the antibiotics we have. That creates the need to develop new antibiotics and creates problems again, Davis said.