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As “superbugs” continue to surge, the World Health Organization is now warning that one in every six bacterial infections are resistant to antibiotics.
WHO also called for antibiotic medications to be used more responsibly, according to a press release published by the agency on Monday.
Based on data from more than 100 countries between 2016 and 2023, the health agency determined that resistance to antibiotics rose in approximately 40% of infection samples.
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The report includes eight common bacterial pathogens: Acinetobacter spp., Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, non-typhoidal Salmonella spp., Shigella spp., Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pneumoniae.
The most dangerous type of infection, according to the report, is caused by drug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria — particularly E. coli and K. pneumoniae, which can lead to sepsis, organ failure and death.
Antibiotics are part of a wider group of medicines called antimicrobials, which also include antivirals, antifungals and antiparasitics.
When bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites no longer respond to antimicrobial medicines, that leads to antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which increases the risk of severe illness, disability or death, according to WHO.
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“Antimicrobial resistance is outpacing advances in modern medicine, threatening the health of families worldwide,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement accompanying the report. “We must use antibiotics responsibly, and make sure everyone has access to the right medicines, quality-assured diagnostics and vaccines.”
“Antimicrobial resistance is outpacing advances in modern medicine, threatening the health of families worldwide.”
More than one million deaths each year are directly linked to antibiotic resistance, according to a study by the Global Research on Antimicrobial Resistance (GRAM) Project.
In some cases, AMR can occur naturally as germs mutate over time — but WHO cautions that it can also stem from people’s “misuse and overuse” of antibiotics and other antimicrobials.
Dr. Marc Siegel, Fox News senior medical analyst, said that WHO’s latest report is “particularly worrisome.”
“These are aggressive bacteria that are more and more difficult to treat,” he told Fox News Digital. “Carbapenem resistance, in particular, is very tough to treat, as is multiple drug-resistant tuberculosis.”
Carbapenems are considered “last-line antibiotics” that are used to treat serious multidrug-resistant infections, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Siegel agrees that a primary contributor is overuse of antibiotics, both for common upper respiratory infections as well as more serious hospital-borne bacteria that live on hospital equipment.
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“Antibiotics are also not very profitable for drug companies to devise, because they are only used when a person has an infection (episodic rather than daily use) — and so we mostly rely on antibiotics that have been around for decades,” he added.
Artificial intelligence could present one potential solution, according to Siegel.
“AI can invent new antibiotics more quickly and less expensively with machine learning, as well as better sanitation and more judicious use in fighting infections,” he said.
To combat the issue, WHO calls for greater surveillance of AMR and antimicrobial use through the agency’s Global Antimicrobial Resistance and Use Surveillance System (GLASS).
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“Countries must commit to strengthening laboratory systems and generating reliable surveillance data, especially from underserved areas, to inform treatments and policies,” the report stated. “WHO calls on all countries to report high-quality data on AMR and antimicrobial use to GLASS by 2030.”
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