Antibiotic resistance could kill more than 39 million people by 2050, a new study warns
Antibiotic resistance could cause the death of more than 39 million people by 2050. This is the conclusion of the study published in the scientific publication "Lancet", the world agencies reported.
For the first time, such a study assesses the impact of antibiotic resistance over the years and tries to predict its development.
From 1990 to 2021, more than one million people per year worldwide died due to antibiotic resistance. The study authors focused on 22 pathogenic agents, 84 pathogen-treatment combinations and 11 infectious syndromes in people of all ages in 204 countries and territories through data on more than 520 million people.
In those three decades, deaths of children under the age of five directly caused by antibiotic resistance have fallen by more than 50 percent, as prevention and control among infants and young children have improved.
However, less often in these children, infections became more difficult to treat when they did occur. At the same time, the death rate among seniors aged 70 and over jumped 80 percent over the same period due to the rapidly aging population and the elderly's greater vulnerability to infection.
Regarding pathogenic agents, mortality due to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus has increased the most worldwide.
In the coming decades, deaths due to antibiotic resistance will increase even more.
According to the researchers' models, the number of direct casualties could reach 1,91 million annually worldwide by 2050, a jump of more than 67 percent compared to 2021. By the middle of this century, antibiotic resistance will play a larger role in 8,22 million deaths annually, a 74,5 percent increase compared to 2021. In total between 2025 and 2050
Antibiotic resistance could be the direct cause of more than 39 million deaths worldwide and would be linked to 169 million deaths, according to scientists.
However, less pessimistic scenarios are also possible, the authors of the study note.
They also recall that improving the treatment of infections and access to antibiotics could prevent 92 million deaths worldwide between 2025 and 2050, particularly in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
