WITHOUT URGENT, COORDINATED ACTION NOW,
THE WORLD IS HEADED FOR A “POST-ANTIBIOTIC ERA”
Common infections and minor injuries — treatable now for decades — will once again become potential killers.
WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION ISSUES SPECIAL REPORT
News release 30 APRIL 2014 | WHO, Geneva
The new WHO report provides the most comprehensive picture
of antibiotic resistance to date, with data from 114 countries.
Antimicrobial resistance, including antibiotic resistance, is no longer a prediction for the future, it is happening right now in every region of the world and has the potential to affect anyone, of any age, in any country.
Antibiotic resistance–when bacteria change so antibiotics no longer work to treat infections–is now a major threat to public health.
“Without urgent, coordinated action by many stakeholders, the world is headed for a post-antibiotic era, in which common infections and minor injuries which have been treatable for decades can once again kill,” says Dr Keiji Fukuda, WHO’s Assistant Director-General for Health Security. “Effective antibiotics have been one of the pillars allowing us to live longer, live healthier, and benefit from modern medicine. Unless we take significant actions to improve efforts to prevent infections and also change how we produce, prescribe and use antibiotics, the world will lose more and more of these global public health goods and the implications will be devastating.”
KEY FINDINGS OF THE REPORT
The report focuses on antibiotic resistance in seven different bacteria responsible for common, serious diseases such as bloodstream infections (sepsis), diarrhea, pneumonia, urinary tract infections and gonorrhea. The results are cause for high concern, documenting resistance to antibiotics, especially “last resort” antibiotics, in all regions of the world.
Read more about WHO’s first global report on antibiotic resistance …