Our antibiotics are no match for super bacteria, and it's a "global crisis," according to a UN report.

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The Ad Hoc Inter-Agency Coordination Group on Antimicrobial Resistance, composed of scientific experts and representatives of the major United Nations scientific agencies, met in March 2017 to provide practical guidance for action. against antimicrobial resistance.

Drug-resistant diseases cause at least 700,000 deaths a year worldwide, including 230,000 deaths from multidrug-resistant TB, according to the report released Monday.

In the absence of concerted global action, the authors estimate that nearly 10 million people could die each year by 2030 from drug-resistant diseases.

Two million Americans develop antibiotic-resistant infections each year, and 23,000 die from them, according to the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

The new report stresses that the excessive and excessive use of existing antimicrobial agents in humans, animals and plants, accelerates the development and spread of resistance. Factors contributing to the emergence and spread of drug-resistant pathogens include: inadequate access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene; poor prevention of infections and diseases; lack of equitable access to affordable antimicrobials, vaccines and diagnostic products; and weak health systems, feed and feed production, food safety and waste management.

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Ultimately, antimicrobial resistance threatens global progress in improving health, food security, clean water and sanitation, and sustainable consumption and production. according to the inter-agency coordination group.

Melinda Pettigrew, professor of epidemiology at the Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases at the Yale School of Public Health, wrote in an e-mail that the report is particularly noteworthy in that it puts the disease on the map. focus on One Health, a concept that recognizes people's health. related to animal health and the environment and which aims to achieve optimal health outcomes by recognizing this interconnection, according to the CDC.

This approach is fundamental because 6 infectious diseases found in humans are transmitted by animals, the CDC estimates.

Pettigrew, who was not involved in the new report, said he insists on "the interdependence and interdependence of humans, animals and the environment" in a world where many people work in silos: for example, experts in antimicrobial resistance can never or only rarely communicate with veterinarians.

"If we want to develop effective strategies to reduce the impact and spread of antimicrobial resistance, scientists, clinicians, veterinarians, policymakers and community members will have to work together to address the problem in a timely manner. One Health perspective, "she said. .

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Three urgent threats in the United States

The problem of antimicrobial resistance includes "more resistant" infections that lead to, expensive treatment, if not death, experts say. The dramatic increase in health expenditures due to uncontrolled antimicrobial resistance, as well as its impact on food production and livelihoods, could result in economic damage comparable to that of the 2008-09 global financial crisis, according to the report. the authors of the new report.

Surgeries in Mexico related to antibiotic-resistant infections in the United States, according to the CDC
In the United States, the CDC describes three "urgent" antimicrobial resistance threats: C. difficile or C. diff, which causes diarrhea and colitis (inflammation of the colon) as a life-threatening condition in most patients. having recently received antibiotics. , infects 500,000 people each year and causes 15,000 deaths. Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteria (CRE), known as "Nightmarish Bacteria" and commonly contracted in health care facilities, causes 9,000 infections and results in approximately 600 deaths per year. Finally, N. gonorrhoeae, which causes gonorrhea, a sexually transmitted disease and has developed resistance to antibiotics, infects 246,000 people each year.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization reports that the number of drugs in development is simply not enough. Although dozens of antibiotics and biologicals – medical products made from natural sources – can be considered, the new drugs have only a 14% chance of being approved for use in humans.

The report concludes with a summary of five recommendations: Accelerate progress (including the implementation of the National Single Action Plans on AMR); innovate to ensure the future (including the development of new antimicrobials); collaborate for more effective action; invest for a sustainable response; and strengthen accountability and global governance.

What can people do? Pettigrew advises: "Work to reduce the use of antibiotics in livestock and fish farms – especially to promote growth, and make sure that family and community members and children have their vaccines! "

Pettigrew said the current measles outbreak illustrates this point, although all antiviral vaccines, including influenza vaccine, can help combat antimicrobial resistance.

Vaccines "prevent secondary bacterial infections that may require antibiotics" and "prevent the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics, empirical and inappropriate measures," she said. "Fewer antibiotics will be used if we prevent people from getting sick in the first place."

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