Due to repeated use of antibiotics, the bacteria and viruses associated with the disease gradually develop resistance, due to which the medicines stop being effective after some time. These are called antibiotic-resistant infections. That is, such infections on which antibiotics will no longer have any effect.
The Lancet A related study has been published in 2013, which says that deaths due to antibiotic resistance are constantly increasing. This increase is going to accelerate in the coming decades. According to Christopher J.L. Murray, senior author of the study and director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, Washington University, ‘This is a big problem, and it is going to remain so for now’.
Researchers are constantly warning that antibiotic resistance is making even simple infections fatal. Once resistance develops, it takes a lot of time to treat it. In the study, 52 crore data points from 204 countries were examined, which included records of insurance claims, death certificates, hospital discharges, etc. After analysis, it was found that between 1990 and 2021, about 10 lakh deaths were caused by antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Researchers have estimated that the rate of deaths due to antimicrobial resistance will continue to increase.
Here is another shocking thing. The study says that deaths due to antimicrobial resistance have a completely opposite pattern in children and the elderly. The rate of AMR deaths for children under the age of 5 has decreased by 50% between 1990 and 2021, while for the elderly aged 70 years and above, this rate has increased by 80 percent. This pattern is expected to continue, so the elderly are going to be at greater risk from antibiotic resistance.
The study demands that major efforts are needed to defeat antibiotic resistance. First of all, efforts should be made to prevent infection from occurring, people should be made aware about antibiotic resistance so that antibiotics are not used even for infections like cough and cold. Rather, efforts should be made to cure the infection with simple treatments like gargling with salt water, or medicinal decoctions etc.