More than 1.2 million people died from drug-resistant infections in 2019, a study has found.
The Global Research on Antimicrobial Resistance report, published by The Lancet, comes after several warnings from health experts about rise in drug resistant bacteria.
He blamed antimicrobial resistance for around 1.27 million deaths in 2019, adding that an additional 4.95 million deaths were indirectly associated.
Most of the deaths were caused by antibiotic-resistant lower respiratory tract infections such as pneumonia, blood infections and intra-abdominal infections.
The study analyzed data from 204 countries and territories and found that the impact is most severe in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
About one in five deaths is in children under five.
Before the pandemic, concerned about rising levels of antimicrobial resistance, British health authorities have raised the specter of an ‘antibiotic apocalypse’ to come, fearing that routine procedures such as C-sections may become too risky to perform due to the risk of infection.
Chris Murray, co-author of the latest study and a professor at the University of Washington, said: “These new data reveal the true extent of antimicrobial resistance around the world.
“Previous estimates predicted 10 million annual deaths from antimicrobial resistance by 2050, but we now know for sure that we are already much closer to that figure than we thought. »
Very few new antibiotics
One of the main reasons for the problem is the misuse and overuse of antibiotics, which encourages microorganisms to evolve and become resistant to antibiotics.
There are also very few new antibiotics in development.
A study for the US National Institutes of Health last year blamed the difficulty of discovering new antibiotic molecules and regulatory hurdles.
Not very profitable
He also said the development of new antibiotics is not very cost effective – infections often occur over a short period of time and once the antibiotic has been successful it is no longer needed. This contrasts with chronic diseases which can generate income throughout the patient’s life.
The World Health Organization warned last year that none of the 43 antibiotics in development or recently approved are enough to fight antimicrobial resistance.