1.2 million died in 2019 from antibiotic-resistant infections

About 1.27 million people died in 2019 worldwide from common bacterial infections that have become resistant to antibiotics, according to a study published Thursday by “The Lancet.” The Global Research on Antimicrobial Resistance (GRAM) estimates that another 4.95 million deaths that year may be associated with these infections, even if they were not their direct cause. The authors warn that antibiotic resistance of bacteria that cause infections such as pneumonia or other blood or intra-abdominal bacteria (derived for example from appendicitis) now causes more annual deaths than AIDS and malaria, with 860,000 and 640,000 registered for these diseases in 2019, respectively. For their study, the largest of its kind to date, the researchers analyzed deaths linked to 23 pathogens and 88 drug combinations for pathogens in a total of 204 countries and territories. Read more: Another symptom found in Covid-19 infected with Ómicron variant: faintingThe experts, from the universities of Washington (United States) and Oxford (England), used a statistical model to calculate the global impact of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), based on 471 million individual records obtained from various sources. Their analysis shows that AMR in lower respiratory system infections, such as pneumonia, caused more than 400,000 deaths directly and was associated with another 1.5 million. On the other hand, resistance in blood infections – which can lead to sepsis – caused about 370,000 deaths and affected another 1.5 million, while antimicrobial resistance shown by intra-abdominal infections caused about 210,000 deaths in 2019 and was linked to another 800,000.Although AMR affects all ages, the group with the highest risk are young children, with one in five deaths attributed to the phenomenon occurring among children under 5 years of age. The areas with the most deaths due to antibiotic resistance were sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, with 24 and 22 per 100,000 inhabitants, respectively. As for the associated deaths, it is estimated that they were in those regions of 99 and 77 per 100,000 people. In high-income countries, AMR was the direct cause of 13 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants in 2019 and had an impact in some way on 56 deaths per 100,000 people. Of the 23 pathogens studied, the resistance of only six of them (E. coli; S. aureus; K. pneumoniae; S. pneumoniae; A. baumannii and P. aeruginosa) led to 929,000 deaths and was linked to another 3.57 million. One of the pathogen-drug combinations – methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (which causes skin infections) – directly caused 100,000 deaths in the year studied. Resistance to two classes of antibiotics commonly given against serious infections — fluoroquinolones and beta-lactams — accounts for about 70 percent of deaths caused by AMR, the study says. The impact of pathogens varies by location, and while in sub-Saharan Africa much of the deaths linked to antimicrobial resistance are from S. pneumonia, in rich countries they are mainly due to S. aureus and E. coli. The authors, who recognize that the phenomenon must continue to be studied with more accurate data from certain countries where they are scarce, recommend taking measures as soon as possible to limit the development of antibiotic resistance. Among other things, they advise governments and health authorities to “optimize the use of existing antibiotics” and not prescribe them for no reason; better control and track infections and provide more funding to develop new antibiotics and treatments. Read more: To continue handing out covid vaccine, Covax requires $5.2 billion by 2022 Teacher reprimands her students for TikTok joke

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