2. Why does this matter?
Antibiotic resistance does not only influence health in
the global population at present, but has the potential
to cause devastating worldwide consequences in the
future
Recognition of these possible future impacts helps to
emphasise the need for drastic change in the
prescription and usage of antibiotics
5. Post-antibiotic era
It is estimated that if antibiotic resistance is not tackled,
10 million people could die per year of curable
diseases by 20501
The economy could lose billions of dollars more per
year due to increased loss of public health goods as
well as the huge costs associated with dealing with this
issue
The world may enter a post-antibiotic era, whereby
previously treatable infections and injuries can become
deadly once more2
7. Treatment failures
Many drugs, after development, had negligible or very
low failure rates and generally succeeded in curing
various life-threatening diseases2
With the emergence of antibiotic resistance, patients
worldwide have failed to respond to previously effective
antibiotic treatments2
This includes the emergence of multidrug-resistant
tuberculosis, Plasmodium falciparum, methicillin-
resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and so on3
Drugs such as fluoroquinolones, carbapanems,
cephalosporins and so on are now ineffective in more
than half of people in countries all around the world2,3
8. There has also been rapidly increasing resistance to drugs
used to treat of Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV),
tuberculosis, malaria, influenza, gonorrhea, urinary tract
infections and so on2
With the rapid spread of antibiotic resistance, these
diseases will soon become extremely difficult to manage and
can cause increased disability and death2,3
In terms of morbidity and mortality, diseases are expected to
vary across countries
Malaria is expected to be the most significant in Asian
countries, while tuberculosis is expected to severely impact
Russia1
9. MRSA
This is predicted to become a huge public health issue
The scope of this resistance will extend to more settings –
hospitals used to be the only settings where MRSA was
found, but more community outbreaks can be expected4
These outbreaks may happen in people who lack traditional
risk factors for MRSA4
MRSA prevalence in the US community may reach 25% in
the next 10 years, with even higher rates within hospital
settings4
10. Loss of control over infection
If antibiotic resistance continues, global health systems
will lose control over many infectious diseases
The rates of hospitalisation and infection will be
elevated, and alternative treatments will need to be
sought
Longer hospitalisation periods and greater extent of
disability3
Death rates from infectious diseases will inevitably
increase
11. Resistance mechanisms
There is the potential for new resistance mechanisms to
emerge, and for resistance rates as a whole to increase4
Multiresistant streptococci, staphylococci and enterococci
will potentially cause substantial illness and be difficult to
combat, especially in parts of the world that have not yet
implemented strict control measures4
Vancomycin-resistant antibiotics may become endemic on a
global scale4
A huge number and range of antibiotics will be rendered
useless in the treatment of a large number of diseases
12. Development of antibiotics
There have been no new antimicrobial classes developed for
gram-negative bacteria for decades4
Vaccines have not been widely effective4
Fluoroquinolones used to be widely effective against multiple
infections, but this is not the case anymore. There have also not
been any new class of antimicrobial agents to function as a
substitute for them4
Several new antimicrobial drugs with different mechanisms of
action have failed in phase three trials4
Antibiotics are being rendered useless very quickly but no novel
antibiotics have been found to be successful – this is very
concerning and can have devastating implications for the health of
global populations
13. Medical procedures
Antibiotics have commonly been used to treat infections that
appear secondary to procedures such as caesarean child
birth, organ transplants, chemotherapy and so on1,2
With the growing resistance against antibiotics, these
procedures will be able to cause diseases which may soon
be rendered incurable1
Therefore, these procedures can become much more
dangerous, and are expected to cause higher rates of
persistent infection and death1
This will impact not only wealthier countries where such
procedures are common, but also middle income countries
that are trying to implement health systems1
14. Costs of antibiotic resistance
There will be a significant loss of public health goods due to
antibiotics being rendered useless by growing resistance, and
substantial economic losses
Patients infected with drug-resistant bacteria generally suffer from
longer-lasting and more severe infections, and as such require
extended hospitalisation and increased treatment and care
resources 2,4,5
Broad-spectrum antibiotics are being used increasingly for
empirical therapy of many common infections – these agents are
often costlier, and have more toxicity towards protective microflora.
They are also occasionally less effective5
Alternative therapies and treatments are required, and these can
be expensive to develop or implement
15. Therefore, it can be seen that antibiotic resistance is a
pressing issue that can have severe, negative
consequences on numerous countries worldwide.
It is essential to understand these impacts in order to
grasp the importance of changing attitudes towards
antibiotic development, prescription and usage.
16. References
1. Dovey D. If We Don’t Do Something About Antibiotic Resistance, 10 Million People Could Die
Each Year [Internet]. Medical Daily. 2015 [cited 4 April 2016]. Available from:
http://www.medicaldaily.com/antibiotic-resistance-will-kill-10-million-people-year-2050-report-
shows-grim-future-316730
2. WHO | WHO’s first global report on antibiotic resistance reveals serious, worldwide threat to
public health [Internet]. Who.int. 2016 [cited 4 April 2016]. Available from:
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2014/amr-report/en/
3. Antimicrobial resistance [Internet]. World Health Organization. 2016 [cited 4 April 2016].
Available from: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs194/en/
4. Harbarth S, Samore M. Antimicrobial Resistance Determinants and Future Control. Emerg
Infect Dis. 2005;11(6):794-801.
5. Eliopoulos G, Cosgrove S, Carmeli Y. The Impact of Antimicrobial Resistance on Health and
Economic Outcomes. Clinical Infectious Diseases. 2003;36(11):1433-1437.