The world is running out of antibiotics to tackle drug-resistant ‘super bugs’, experts warn
THE world is running out of antibiotics to tackle drug-resistant infections, experts have warned.
Currently the majority of drugs being developed are modifications of existing kinds of antibiotics, but infections are becoming more and more resistant.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) labelled this resistance “a global health emergency”, warning it could “seriously jeopardise” progress made in modern medicine.
The remarks come after a new WHO report found a serious lack of new drugs in development to combat the growing threat of antibiotic resistance.
Health experts have previously warned that resistance to antimicrobial drugs could cause a bigger threat to mankind than cancer.
About 700,000 globally die each year due to drug-resistant infections including tuberculosis (TB), HIV and malaria.
But experts predict that could rise to 10 million people a year by 2050 if no action is taken.
If antibiotics lose their effectiveness, then key medical procedures - including gut surgery, caesarean sections, joint replacements and chemotherapy - could become too dangerous to perform.
The latest WHO report found few potential treatment options for those antibiotic-resistant infections - including drug-resistant tuberculosis which kills around 250,000 people each year.
There is also a lack of treatment options for bacteria groups including Acinetobacter and Enterobacteriaceae, such as Klebsiella and E.coli – which are commonly spread through hospitals and nursing homes and can prove fatal.
But there are very few oral antibiotics for these types of bacteria in the pipeline even though such drugs are essential for treating infections outside hospitals.
The authors of the report identified 51 new antibiotics in clinical development.
But only eight of these are deemed to be innovative treatments that will add value to current treatments available.
Most of the drugs in development are modifications of existing antibiotics which are “only short-term solutions”, the authors said.
“The current clinical pipeline is still insufficient to mitigate the threat of antimicrobial resistance,” they added.
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Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of WHO, said: “Antimicrobial resistance is a global health emergency that will seriously jeopardise progress in modern medicine.
“There is an urgent need for more investment in research and development for antibiotic-resistant infections including TB, otherwise we will be forced back to a time when people feared common infections and risked their lives from minor surgery.”
Dr Suzanne Hill, director of the department of essential medicines at WHO, added: “Pharmaceutical companies and researchers must urgently focus on new antibiotics against certain types of extremely serious infections that can kill patients in a matter of days because we have no line of defence.”
The WHO said that new treatments alone will not be enough to combat the threat of antimicrobial resistance.
Sexually transmitted infections that are resistant to antibiotics are also on the rise, with oral sex blamed for the spread of "super gonorrhoea".
A major UK review into antimicrobial resistance, led by Lord Jim O'Neill, was published last year.
One of the proposals set out in the review suggested that doctors should be forced to perform diagnostic tests on patients before prescribing antibiotics.
Another proposal suggested that pharmaceutical companies should “play or pay” - meaning they either join the search to hunt for new antibiotics or be forced to pay a fine.
Health leaders from around the world have raised serious concerns about the growing resistance to antimicrobial drugs.
Antibiotics are the best known of these drugs, but there are others, such as antivirals, antimalarial drugs and antifungals.
Earlier this month the Government and the British research charity the Wellcome Trust joined Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, South Africa, Switzerland to pledge more than 56 million Euros to the Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership.
Ed Whiting, director of policy at the Wellcome Trust, added: “There is no doubt of the urgency - the world is running out of effective antibiotics and drug-resistant infections already kill 700,000 people a year globally.
“We've made good progress in getting this on the political agenda.
“But now, a year on from a major UN agreement, we must see concerted action - to reinvigorate the antibiotic pipeline, ensure responsible use of existing antibiotics, and address this threat across human, animal and environmental health.
“Wellcome is investing in antibiotic research and working closely with governments, industry and global health leaders. We must work together if we are to successfully stay ahead of superbugs.”
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