The world is running out of effective antibiotics due to increased drug resistance, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced.
The WHO warns that there are not enough new antibiotics under development to treat the most resistant infections, such as tuberculosis, which kills nearly 250.000 people a year. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Hebrejesus said that antimicrobial resistance is an "emergency of global proportions" that will seriously threaten the progress of modern medicine.
"There is an urgent need to invest more in research and development in the field of treating antibiotic-resistant infections, including tuberculosis. Otherwise, we will be returned to a time when people were afraid of common infections and it will be risky to undergo minor surgeries," Hebrejesus said. .
The WHO said there are 12 classes of pathogens responsible for common infections, such as pneumonia or urinary tract infections, that are increasingly becoming resistant to existing antibiotics.
Of the 51 new drugs that are currently being developed, the WHO has rated only eight as innovations in treatment, reports 021.rs.
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