MRSA being engulfed by a human neutrophilNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASESThe antibacterial resistance crisis is upon us, and unless scientists can think of ways to stave it off tout de suite, people all over the world are in a heap of trouble, according to a new report released by the World Health Organization (WHO). “A post antibiotic-era—in which common infections and minor injuries can kill—far from being an apocalyptic fantasy, is instead a very real possibility for the 21st century,” wrote Keiji Fukuda, WHO’s assistant director-general for Health Security, in a forward to the report, the first that the organization has released concerning antibiotic resistance.
The WHO report compiles data from 114 countries, developed and developing alike. A suite of infectious bacteria, including Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pneumonia, and Neisseria gonorrhea, have evolved drug resistance, according to the report. In general, the rising tide of drug-resistant bugs can be blamed on the overuse of existing antibiotics, careless use and prescribing, the use of antibiotics in animal agriculture, and the failure to develop new classes of antibiotics.
“Despite the fact we've known the potential of this going cataclysmic for 10 years, as a global unit we haven't managed to get our act together,” Timothy Walsh, a medical microbiologist at Cardiff University, U.K., and adviser for the report, told Nature. Particularly worrying, Walsh continued, is the growing trend of resistance to ...
