Resistance to antimicrobial medicines killing 700,000 people globally per year

 

An article has reported that resistant strains of microbes are killing around 700,000 people around the globe annually. Extrapolating these trends out to 2050, the 700,000 deaths could reach up to 10 million. Due to evolution and mutations, microbes have come up with new strong strains, which are resistant to antimicrobial drugs (antibiotics). Multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is an example of such a strain, which is hard to treat, requiring two years of antibiotics treatment, which is not available or affordable in some poorer countries. Antibiotics are vital in the prevention of infection as well as its cure. It has become increasingly difficult for pharmaceutical companies to develop new antibiotics as the old ones have lost their power to cure through overuse. Reserving new drugs for emergencies is sensible public policy. But it keeps sales low, and therefore discourages drug firms from research and development.