How can we stop the spread of superbugs?
Scientists estimate that by 2050, drug-resistant bacterial infections could kill as many as 10 million people a year.
The bacteria that the media like to refer to as “superbugs” are already undermining the health of millions of people around the world.
The term refers to bacteria that have become resistant to almost all antibiotics currently in use.
Keep reading
list of 4 itemsAmid global polarisation, the pandemic agreement encourages cooperation
Sunak apologises after report finds UK government covered up blood scandal
Philippines plans vaccination drive as whooping cough outbreak claims lives
In this growing public health crisis, superbugs are already behind infections that take the lives of an estimated 700,000 people every year.
And without radical new advances, that figure could rise to 10 million people a year by 2050, researchers say.
On Inside Story, we look at how our actions are making antibiotics less and less effective against certain kinds of bacteria.
And we ask, what can be done to reverse the trend?
Presenter: Jane Dutton
Guests:
Jim O’Neill – chairman of the UK Review on Anti-microbial Resistance
Hugh Pennington – emeritus professor of bacteriology at the University of Aberdeen
Shelly Batra – co-founder and president of Operation ASHA
Published On 11 Feb 2016