Studies have found that antimicrobial resistance has become the leading cause of death worldwide

　　According to the Europa News Agency, a new study estimates that at least 1.27 million people worldwide lost their lives to drug-resistant bacterial infections in 2019, equivalent to 3,500 deaths per day. Health experts warn that antimicrobial resistance has become one of the leading causes of death in the global population.

Antimicrobial resistance has become the leading cause of death worldwide.

　　The study, just published in the journal The Lancet, is considered the most comprehensive assessment of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) to date, according to The Guardian.

　　Antimicrobials, including antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals, and antiparasitics, are drugs used to prevent and treat human, animal, and plant infections. Antimicrobial resistance refers to bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites that become resistant to the drugs that treat them and survive exposure to one or more antimicrobials. Resistant microbes are sometimes referred to as "superbugs."

　　The analysis, part of the Global Antimicrobial Resistance Research Programme (GRAM), collected the number of deaths associated with a drug combination of 23 pathogens and 88 pathogens in 204 countries and counted the losses caused by antimicrobial resistance in 21 regions around the world.

　　The researchers said the data came from retrospective reports, hospital systems, surveillance systems and other sources. After analyzing up to 471 million data, the researchers believe that antimicrobial resistance directly contributed to 1.27 million deaths worldwide in 2019, and was also associated with 4.95 million deaths in the same year.

　　The researchers say that number has exceeded the number of aids (HIV) and malaria deaths that year. AIDS and malaria are estimated to have killed 860,000 and 640,000 people, respectively, in 2019.

　　Researchers estimate that in 21 regions of the world, antimicrobial resistance in sub-Saharan Africa is causing losses that directly result in 27.3 deaths per 100,000 people. The damage done in Oceania directly resulted in 6.5 deaths per 100,000 people.

　　In addition, although antimicrobial resistance is a huge threat to people of all ages, young children are considered a particularly high-risk group. About one in five deaths from antimicrobial resistance occur in children under 5 years of age.

　　Of the 23 pathogens, the researchers found that 6 of them accounted for 73.4 percent of the deaths from antimicrobial resistance. These include: Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa)。 The researchers estimate that these six pathogens directly caused 929,000 deaths and were linked to 3.57 million deaths.

　　Christopher Murray, a medical expert at the University of Washington and the study's lead author, said in a press release that the new data, revealing the true scale of antimicrobial resistance around the world, is a clear signal that we must act now to address the threat.

　　Murray said it was previously estimated that 10 million people would die each year from antimicrobial resistance by 2050. But we now know that we are closer to that number than we thought. (Ouyang Hong)