Overview of AMR

Infections due to antibiotic-resistant bacteria are a serious threat to modern health care. Of enormous concern is that this situation is likely to further deteriorate over the next three decades and could potentially reach a point where 10 million people worldwide succumb to antibiotic-resistant infections by 2050. ( O'Neill report: The Review on Antimicrobial Resistance. )

Among these superbugs, E.coli, Acinetobacter baumannii and Klebsiella pneumoniae are particularly worrisome, as these have become increasingly resistant due to extensive consumption of “last resort” treatments such as cephalosporins and carbapenems. These bacteria are the main cause of urinary tract infections (UTIs), pneumonia and intra-abdominal infections. UTIs represent one of the most frequent infectious diseases affecting 150-250 million people each year worldwide, with 40-50% women affected at least once during their lifetime, creating an enormous strain on the health care system.

Despite the emergence of superbugs, the available antibiotic arsenal to fight these is dwindling, with a limited pipeline of drugs currently in pre-clinical and clinical development. Consequently, novel antibiotic discovery and development strategies are urgently required to combat these threats, in consort with unique approaches aimed at accelerating compound development towards clinical testing and commercialisation.

Annual deaths worldwide attributable to AMR by 2050

Source: https://amr-review.org/

Additional reading on AMR:

Antimicrobial resistance poses a catastrophic threat. If we don't act now, any one of us could go into hospital in 20 years for minor surgery and die because of an ordinary infection that can't be treated by antibiotics.
Professor Dame Sally Davies, former UK Chief Medical Officer.