A report out of the United Kingdom found that, worldwide, antibiotic-resistant bacteria could kill more people per year by 2050 than cancer kills today.
By Paul Pottinger and Bruce Speight
THROUGHOUT its history, the United Nations General Assembly has convened to discuss major global threats, including nuclear proliferation, human-rights abuses and global climate change.
Thus, it is fitting and overdue that the General Assembly met Sept. 21 to discuss one of the most daunting public-health threats facing the world today: The increasing failure of lifesaving antibiotics.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at least 2 million Americans are infected with some form of an antibiotic-resistant pathogen each year, and 23,000 die from those infections. A report out of the United Kingdom found that, worldwide, antibiotic-resistant bacteria could kill more people per year by 2050 than cancer kills today.
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Paul Pottinger is an Associate Professor of Medicine and he also co-leads the East Africa Diploma Course in Tropical Medicine.