An OECD report indicates that the spread of superbugs can be stopped

A few dollars per year per person could prevent three quarters of projected deaths due to bacteria called "super microbes", bacteria that have evolved to resist antibiotics, predicts the Organization for Cooperation and Development. Economic Development (OECD).

A new report from the OECD estimates today that an antimicrobial-resistant infection is about to kill 30,000 Americans a year by 2050, nearly as many as the victims of the disease. 39, an accident on the road. The financial cost for the 33 developed countries included in the study could also reach $ 3.5 billion a year.

Earlier this year, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned of 221 strains of "nightmarish bacteria" detected. Bacteria with lucky mutations (for them) can survive antibiotic treatment, leaving a generation of drug-resistant bacteria that can cause new damage in humans.

Due to a combination of factors, including the excessive use of antibiotics in medical practices and in livestock treatment, drug resistance has increased rapidly in recent decades. Last year, the World Health Organization listed 12 strains of this type, ranking them in order of priority and urgency.

Antimicrobial resistance "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, "warned Michele Cecchini, the public health official, at a press conference. an interview with Agence France Press. The poorest countries face the greatest threat. In some cases, 60% of the bacteria are already resistant to at least one drug. The richest countries have rates around 5%.

The OECD calls on rich countries to implement five simple reforms to save lives in their own countries and innovative methods that can be applied in other countries. First: improve handwashing and sanitation of health care workers. Next: Prescription practices of antibiotics more cautious. Third, faster tests to determine whether a common respiratory infection is viral or bacterial, to avoid prescribing antibiotics when they would be useless. Fourth, postpone the availability of antibiotics by three days, after which most viral infections are already on the way to improvement. Finally, a public health awareness campaign.

The additional call for a One Health approach, which recognizes that human health is linked to that of animals, both on the farm and in nature, may be just as important and that comprehensive health care must treat the animals alongside the man.

All of these approaches require government health authorities that they defend private interests who prefer to ignore the problem. A Reuters survey in 2016 found that US authorities do not require healthcare providers to report antibiotic-resistant cases, making it more difficult to track and resolve the problem. Rather than admit that a drug-resistant infection killed her baby, a bereaved mother said, "They just threw a bunch of words on the death certificate."