Study finds 'superbug' could kill 40 million from antibiotic-resistant infections by 2050

A new study has found that deaths caused by treatment-resistant infections could rise by nearly 70 per cent by 2050 .

The ongoing superbug crisis means that from 2025 - 2050 there could be more than 39 million deaths directly attributable to antimicrobial resistance or AMR.

The Lancet published the study which highlights how pathogens such as bacteria and fungi can develop the ability to evade medications which have traditionally killed them.

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AMR has been cited as “one of the top global public health and development threats,” by the World Health Organization due to misuse and overuse of antimicrobial medications in humans, animals and plants. Lead study author Dr. Chris Murray, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, admitted “we expect it to get worse.”

He said: “We need appropriate attention on new antibiotics and antibiotic stewardship so that we can address what is really quite a large problem.” The Global Research on Antimicrobial Resistance Project, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation and other institutions used roughly 520 million individual records to form the data for their research.

The researchers discovered that from 1990 to 2021, deaths from AMR fell more than 50 per cent among children younger than five, however, they increased more than 80 per cent among adults aged 70 and older. Murray said: “We had these two opposite trends going on: a decline in AMR deaths under age 15, mostly due to vaccination, water and sanitation programs, some treatment programs, and the success of those."

He added: “And at the same time, there’s this steady increase in the number of deaths over age 50.” Researchers discovered the pathogen-drug combination that had the largest increase was methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. The antibiotic methicillin and the bacteria S. aureus - saw attributable deaths nearly double from 57,200 in 1990 to 130,000 in 2021.

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The researchers also produced estimates of deaths and illnesses attributable to AMR by 2050 in three different scenarios: with the current climate continuing, if new potent antibiotic drugs are developed, and if health care for infections improves and better access to antibiotics is provided worldwide.

The research forecasts showed antimicrobial resistance deaths will increase by 2050 if no measures are put in place to improve access to quality care, powerful antibiotics and other vital resources to reduce and treat infections. Estimates showed that in 2050 global deaths attributable to antimicrobial resistance could reach 1.9 million, while antimicrobial resistance associated deaths could reach 8.2 million.

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