Thursday, Apr 25, 2024 | Last Update : 05:43 PM IST
Antibiotics may soon become redundant, say experts
According to researchers, patients are beginning to develop growing resistance to drugs which could jeopardise progress in modern medicine.
The World Health Organisation has said that the ‘antimicrobial resistance is a global health emergency.’
According to the head of WHO, growing resistance to drugs that fight infection could 'seriously jeopardise' progress made in modern medicine.
The remarks came after a new WHO report found a serious lack of new drugs in development to combat the growing threat of antibiotic resistance.
Health experts have previously warned that resistance to antimicrobial drugs could cause a bigger threat to mankind than cancer.
According to experts, if antibiotics lose their effectiveness, then key medical procedures - including gut surgery, caesarean sections, joint replacements and chemotherapy - could become too dangerous to perform.
Around 700,000 people around the world die annually due to drug-resistant infections including drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB), HIV and malaria.
If no action is taken, it has been estimated that drug-resistant infections will kill 10 million people a year by 2050.
