Irrational use leading to antibiotics resistance: WHO study

Inappropriate and irrational use of antibiotics against infectious diseases across the world, including India, has led to an increasing trend of resistance against antibiotics, according to a new report by the World Health Organization.

Antibiotic resistance is the phenomena when bacteria change so antibiotics no longer work in people who need them to treat infections.

The WHO report - the first to look at antibiotic resistance globally - reveals that this serious threat is no longer a prediction for the future, but is happening right now in every region of the world and has the potential to affect anyone, of any age, in any country.

"Without urgent, coordinated action by many stakeholders, the world is headed for a post-antibiotic era, in which common infections and minor injuries which have been treatable for decades can once again kill," said Keiji Fukuda, WHO's assistant director-general for health security.

"Effective antibiotics have been one of the pillars allowing us to live longer, live healthier and benefit from modern medicine. Unless we take significant actions to improve efforts to prevent infections and also change how we produce, prescribe and use antibiotics, the world will lose more and more of these global public health goods and the implications will be devastating," he said.

India which has the highest burden of infectious diseases is among the highest users in the world.

The major issue in India, according to the report is that there is poor regulation of the medical sector, particularly in the prescription of medicines.

"There is also a lack of knowledge among medical practitioners as well as the public on rational use of antibiotics. The health sector in India needs improved management of the health care delivery systems, both public and private, which will minimize conditions favorable for the development of drug resistance," it said.

The study said that if uncontrolled, antimicrobial resistance will eventually result in lack of effective tools that can be used to control infectious diseases in the community and lead to poor health outcomes in the general population.

In India, besides the daunting multi-drug resistance of tuberculosis, emerging resistance to the new generation anti-malarial medicines such as artemisinin, which has been documented in the neighbouring countries of southeast Asia, are also of grave concern, it said.