The world is on the cusp of a “post-antibiotic” era with a dozen bacteria that are growing resistant to all medications we have on hand to fight them, the World Health Organization is warning.
In its first-ever ranking, the global health authority listed 12 superbugs that “pose the greatest threat to human health.” The catalogue is meant to guide research and development in the right direction, targeting these stealthy bugs.
READ MORE: New superbug resistant to 26 antibiotics killed U.S. woman, docs say in scary case study
Most of the dozen on the notorious list are gram-negative bacteria. That means they’re resistant to multiple antibiotics. They have “built-in capabilities” to resist treatment and even pass along genetic material to other bacteria, teaching them to evade antibiotics, too, the WHO warns.
“Antibiotic resistance is growing, and we are fast running out of treatment options. If we leave it to market forces alone, the new antibiotics we most urgently need are not going to be developed in time,” Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny, the WHO’s assistant director-general for health systems and innovation, said in a statement.
READ MORE: Canadian docs discover fungus that fights deadly superbugs
The WHO divided its ranking into three categories based on urgency for the need for drugs.
The WHO’s ranking of 12 high-priority pathogens that need R&D for new antibiotics
Priority 1: Critical
- Acinetobacter baumannii, carbapenem-resistant
- Pseudomonas aeruginosa, carbapenem-resistant
- Enterobacteriaceae, carbapenem-resistant, ESBL-producing
Priority 2: High
- Buzz kill? Gen Z less interested in coffee than older Canadians, survey shows
- ‘She gets to be 10’: Ontario child’s heart donated to girl the same age
- Bird flu risk to humans an ‘enormous concern,’ WHO says. Here’s what to know
- Naloxone-resistant street drug linked to 9 deaths in Eastern Canada seized in Alberta
- Enterococcus faecium, vancomycin-resistant
- Staphylococcus aureus, methicillin-resistant, vancomycin-intermediate and resistant
- Helicobacter pylori, clarithromycin-resistant
- Salmonellae, fluoroquinolone-resistant
- Neisseria gonorrhoeae, cephalosporin-resistant, fluoroquinolone-resistant
Priority 3: Medium
- Streptococcus pneumoniae, penicillin-non-susceptible
- Haemophilus influenza, ampicillin-resistant
- Shigella spp., fluoroquinolone-resistant
The highest priority include bacteria that pose a threat to hospitals, nursing homes and patients with compromised immune systems or who rely on devices like ventilators and blood catheters. These are the germs that lead to severe and often deadly illnesses like pneumonia or blood infections.
READ MORE: New superbug renders antibiotics powerless
They’ve grown resistant to the latest generation of drugs – what’s dubbed as the best available antibiotics formulated to fight multi-drug resistant bacteria.
In his final days as Canada’s chief public health officer, Dr. Gregory Taylor told Global News in 2016 that superbugs were of utmost concern to him.
We’re nearing a reality in which operations can’t happen or routine infections could kill people, he warned.
He called anti-microbial resistance a “wicked problem” the country is facing.
“They’re problems that are difficult and hard to tackle,” he said.
“This is public enemy No. 1,” Dr. Gerry Wright, lead researcher and McMaster University scientist, said of superbugs.
Almost 90 years ago, Scottish researcher Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin and ushered in a wave of new medications, all derived from bacteria in the soil beneath our feet.
READ MORE: Antibiotic resistant bacteria found in squid sold in Canadian grocery store
Suddenly, pneumonia, tuberculosis, blood infections — ailments that once killed entire communities at a time — became manageable. Antibiotics were dubbed “wonder drugs”: they revolutionized medical care and extended life expectancy.
But we’re still relying on old innovations: half of the antibiotics prescribed to sick patients today were discovered in the 1950s, Canadian research suggests.
Wright says there have been virtually no new antibiotics discovered since the 1980s.
READ MORE: We need new antibiotics. Who’s going to pay for them?
“We’re at a very precarious point simply because we don’t have any new drugs coming on board,” Wright told Global News.
Read the WHO’s full report.
carmen.chai@globalnews.ca
Follow @Carmen_Chai
Comments