A new report from the World Health Organization (WHO) has revealed that some common bacteria are showing higher levels of resistance to antibiotics, which could put “millions of lives” at risk.
Key points:
- The WHO surveyed people in more than 80 countries
- They found increased resistance to antibiotics.
- More research is needed to identify what is causing the increase.
The WHO research surveyed people in more than 80 countries and found increased antibiotic resistance from common bacterial infections.
In tests for antimicrobial resistance, the report found high levels (more than 50 percent) in bacteria that frequently cause bloodstream infections, mainly in hospitals.
Those life-threatening infections need last-resort antibiotic treatment, but 8 percent of bloodstream infections caused by a bacterium, Klebsiella pneumoniae, have been reported to be resistant to the drugs, increasing the risk of death.
The most common bacterial infections also showed increased resistance to antibiotics.
One example, Neisseria gonorrhoea, the bacterium that causes gonorrhea, showed 60 percent resistance to the most commonly used oral antibacterials.
The same is true of E. coli, which according to Johns Hopkins Medicine it is a very common cause of urinary tract infections (UTIs).
More than 20 percent of E. coli cases showed resistance to first- and second-line treatments.
“Antimicrobial resistance undermines modern medicine and puts millions of lives at risk,” said WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
“Truly understand the scope of the global threat and mount an effective public health response to antimicrobial resistance [antimicrobial resistance]we must scale up microbiology testing and provide quality-assured data in all countries, not just the wealthiest ones,” he said.
Despite stating that most resistance trends were stable over the past four years, the WHO said bloodstream infections due to resistant E. coli, salmonella and gonorrhea increased by at least 15 percent between 2017 and 2020.
The WHO called for more research to identify why there is an increase in bacterial resistance and to what extent it might be related to increased hospitalizations and increased antibiotic treatments during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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