More than 39 million people could die of antibiotic-resistant infections between now and 2050, according to a study published in The Lancet . The authors of the study forecast a nearly 70% increase in deaths due to antimicrobial resistance from 2022 to 2050, with older people most at risk and driving the rise in fatalities. Such resistance, also known as AMR, occurs when microbes, such as bacteria and fungi, evolve in a way that makes them harder to kill with existing medications.
“It’s a big problem, and it is here to stay,” said Christopher J. L. Murray, senior author of the study and director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.
Researchers have flagged antimicrobial resistance as a public health concern for decades, but this study - conducted by a large team of researchers as part of the Global Research on Antimicrobial Resistance Project - is the first to analyse AMR trends around the world and over time. The World Health Organisation says the threat of such antimicrobial resistance not only makes common infections harder to treat but makes medical interventions, such as chemotherapy and caesarean sections, more risky. The study looked at 520 million datasets, including hospital discharge records, insurance claims and death certificates from 204 countries.
Using statistical modelling, the authors found more than a million deaths related to antimicrobial resistance took place each year between 1990 and 2021. Since then, AMR deaths have only increased and will accelerate, according to the researchers..
