Superbugs kill more than a million people each year but neither governments nor the public recognize the scale of the threat, doctors say. The crisis is largely driven by the misuse of antibiotics, about 70% of which are given to livestock, which encourages the evolution of microbes too strong for modern medicine to handle.
"We need to use antibiotics safely and appropriately," said Sally Davies, who stepped down as England's chief medical officer in 2019 to champion the UK's fight against superbugs.
By 2050, drug-resistant bugs are projected to kill nearly 2 million people each year and play a role in the deaths of 8 million people. The figures put AMR in a similar ballpark to the Covid-19 pandemic, which the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates led to 4 million excess deaths in 2020 and 10 million in 2021.
This story is from the November 16, 2024 edition of The Guardian.
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This story is from the November 16, 2024 edition of The Guardian.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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