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PARIS: Millions of people in Europe, North America and Australia.
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) warned of "disastrous consequences" for public health care and consumption of basic hygiene is boosted and unnecessary antibiotic use slashed.
Drug-resistant bacteria killed more than 33,000 people in Europe in 2015, according to new research published separately this week.
In a landmark report, the OECD said 2.4 million people said it would cost $ 3.5 billion (RM14.57 billion) in its analysis.
Michele Cecchini, lead on public health at the OECD, told AFP that countries are already spending an average of 10% of their healthcare budgets on treating antimicrobial-resistant (AMR) bugs.
"AMR costs more than the flu, more than HIV, more than tuberculosis." And it will cost even more if countries do not put in place actions to tackle this problem, "he said.
'Enormous death toll'
As humans consume more and more antibiotics – either through prescriptions or agriculture and livestock products – the strains of bacteria are developing that resist the effects of drugs designed to kill them.
In low and middle-income countries, resistance is already high in Brazil and Russia up to 60% of bacterial infections are already resistant to at least one antibiotic.
And the growth of AMR infections is predicted to be better than currently.
"Such high resistance rates in health care systems, which are already weakened by constrained budgets, will create conditions for an enormous number of young people," the report said.
"Even small cuts in the kitchen, minor surgery or diseases like pneumonia could become life-threatening."
Perhaps more likely to be the prediction made by the OECD that resistance to so-called 2nd- and 3rd-line antibiotics – break-glass-in-case-of-emergency-infection treatments – will balloon by 70% by 2030.
"These are antibiotics that we can not do because we want these as back," Cecchini said.
"Essentially, we are using more when we are working on our best options in case of emergency."
How to avoid disaster
The group, which advises the World Health Organization on public health initiatives, said the only way to avert disaster was to implement immediate, sector-wide changes in behavior.
The report calls on healthcare professionals to ensure better hygiene standards in hospitals and clinics.
It also suggests resistance to bacterial infection or bacterial infection.
New swab tests can give a result in a matter of minutes, and Cecchini also put forward the idea of "delayed prescriptions" to dent antibiotic overuse by making patients wait three times before picking up their antibiotics – roughly the time it takes for a viral infection to run its course.
In trials of the technique, two thirds of patients received delayed prescriptions for antibiotics never collected their medicine.
The OECD said such changes would cost US $ 2 per person per year and would save millions of lives and billions of dollars by mid-century.
"They would decrease in these countries by 75%," said Cecchini. "It would pay for itself in a few months and would produce substantial savings." – AFP
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