The 3rd Leading Global Cause of Death Is Likely Not What You Think, New Study Reveals

Antibiotic resistance is often seen as a future problem, but newly published data show it's affecting far more lives than you might think.

According to the new estimates, there were over five million deaths associated with the emergence of antibiotic resistance in 2019.

One of the greatest discoveries of all time is drugs that killbacteria. We no longer have to worry about death from rose bush scratches or gonorrhea since Alexander Fleming discovered the antibacterial activity in the Penicillium. Antibiotics have saved millions of lives.

bacteria have been developing resistance to antibiotics long before we started using them Continually using the same antibiotics over and over infections leads to an increasing number of no longer responding to traditional antibiotics.

Researchers are sounding the alarm that we're now losing more people to antimicrobial resistance than to HIV/AIDS or Malaria because of the fact that the more antibiotic-resistantbacteria, the more patients will succumb to them.

Chris Murray, a University of Washington health economist who co-authored the new research, says that the new data reveal the true scale of antimicrobial resistance worldwide.

We know for certain that we are already close to the 10 million annual deaths predicted by previous estimates. If we want to stay ahead in the race against antimicrobial resistance, we need to leverage this data to course-correct action.

The researchers looked at data on 23 different species and 88 different drug combinations from 204 countries. They used statistical models to estimate the scale of antimicrobial resistance after covering over 500 million records of infections.

Two counterfactual scenarios were explored by the team. The team explained that the number of deaths associated with antimicrobial resistance was the reason why all drug-resistant infections were replaced with no infections.

In the second scenario, they replaced all drug-resistant infections with drug-susceptible infections, which led to an estimation of deaths caused by antimicrobial resistance.

4.95 million deaths were associated with drug-resistant bacterial infections, of which 1.27 million deaths were directly caused by antimicrobial resistance, a huge burden in all areas of the world, but particularly impacting low- and middle-income countries.

There was a rate of deaths attributable to and associated with antimicrobial resistance in 2019. The Lancet published an article on antimicrobial resistance.

According to these calculations, stroke and heart disease caused more deaths than antimicrobial resistance.

This is the first time that a global estimate has been done. There are some limitations to their modelling because of the gaps in data from some parts of the world. The conclusion is that we have a major global health problem.

The threat of antimicrobial resistance has been known for a long time. The steps needed to tackle antimicrobial resistance, which include boosting public awareness, better surveillance, improved diagnostics, more rational use of antibiotics, access to clean water and Sanitation, embracing One Health, and investments in new antimicrobials and vaccines, have been consistently recommended. In an editorial accompanying the research, the editors of The Lancet say that action has been episodic and even.

It has been very slow. Only one of the six leading pathogens is available for a vaccine. The small clinical program for antibiotics isn't enough to tackle the emergence and spread of resistance.

The authors of both the editorial and the original study want leaders to move antimicrobial resistance higher up on their agendas. They warn that we'll be seeing even higher levels of preventable deaths in the years to come if urgent action isn't taken.

The research has been published.