Resistant bacteria cause treatment failures

Resistant bacteria already cause many infections worldwide. Usually functioning antibiotics are available, but some bacterial infections are increasingly difficult to treat, and death tolls are rising.

Antibiotic resistant bacteria, conservatively calculated, already cause more than 1 million deaths every year. Vulnerable populations such as preterm babies and young children are especially at risk.

Examples of the impact of antibiotic resistant bacteria:

• In children under five, 31% of deaths due to sepsis in 2021 were associated with antibiotic-resistant bacteria
• Already we cannot safely treat multidrug-resistant strains of Salmonella typhi, the cause for typhoid fever, which is a major killer of children in low- and middle-income countries.
• Gonorrhea is a sexually transmitted disease that can have severe consequences such as infertility. Resistance to last-line antibiotics has already developed, and some cases are close to untreatable. With 80 million new cases/year, the consequences of total resistance would be devastating.
• Tuberculosis (TB) is a serious bacterial infection that typically affects the lungs. In 2024, approximately 10.7 million people fell ill with TB and 1.2 million died from the disease. Further, around 390 000 people developed multidrug-resistant or rifampicin-resistant TB. Resistance complicates treatment, with less effective treatment options and greater side effects.

Modern medicine under threat

Many modern health care interventions such as cancer therapy, different types of surgeries and organ transplants depend on antibiotics to prevent and cure infections. Since bacteria and other microorganisms are everywhere around us as well as in and on the body, the risk of infection during surgery or when using treatments that affects our immune system is high. Without functioning antibiotics these procedures would be very risky. The entire modern health care system currently relies on antibiotics, and without these drugs, modern medicine as we know it today would not function.

• Without effective antibiotics, patients cannot safely undergo transplant surgery or immunosuppressive therapy.
• For example, infections are common in organ transplant patients. Bloodstream infections after solid organ transplants was 8.5%, with a high proportion of multidrug-resistant organisms (45.5%), especially after liver transplantation..

Read about what you can do to contribute in the work to stop the spread of antibiotic resistance here What can I do?

Selected Resources