ANTIBIOTICS: A GLOBAL CRISIS CAUSED BY ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANT SUPERBUGS

Antibiotics have revolutionized the prevention and treatment of bacterial infections, made routine surgeries, transplants, and cancer treatments possible, and saved millions of lives.

- DR P.S. VENKATESH RAO

But the rapid emergence of antimicrobial-resistant infections worldwide now threatens our lives. Superbugs are bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites that develop resistance to antibacterial (antibiotic), antiviral, antifungal, and antiparasitic drugs, together referred to as antimicrobials.

Antimicrobials play a crucial role in preventing and treating infections in humans, animals, and plants, but their overuse and misuse drive antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

Antibiotic-resistant infections can lead to extended hospital stays, additional follow-up medical visits, loss of productivity, and the use of treatments that may be costly and potentially toxic.

PREVALENCE: AMR is a multi-faceted global challenge, a "silent pandemic" considered one of the ten global public health threats to humanity.

Globally, an estimated 1.3 million people die each year directly due to bacterial AMR.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that by 2050, antibiotic resistance could lead annually. If no action is taken, this number will increase dramatically, imposing huge costs on public health, agriculture, the economy, and society.

It requires greater coordination, political leadership, interdisciplinary and multisector targeted actions by the entire society to safeguard the health of humans, animals, plants, and the environment.

CONTRIBUTING FACTORS: Superbugs mutate to resist newer antimicrobials and vaccines, then spread to other persons or animals, and pass on their resistance to vulnerable microbes, leading to epidemics.

Misuse of antibiotics for viral infections such as cold or flu, wrong prescriptions, low-quality medicines, disregard of guidelines for prescribing antibiotics and proper hand hygiene, sanitation, surveillance, infection prevention, and control encourage the development and spread of drug resistance.