Human society faces the risk of a future without antibiotics and antimicrobials. The implications of this are that life expectancy could fall due to people dying from diseases that are readily treatable today. Those at greater risk are children, the elderly, and those with weak or compromised immune systems.
Resistance to antimicrobials has emerged as bacteria have acquired resistance through mutation and adaptation. A key reason is the overuse of antimicrobials in society, either for treating viral diseases, the use with farm animals, dumping unwanted materials into rivers, or simply administering antibiotic pills like sweets for infections that did not really warrant them. Coupled with this a new generation of compounds has been slow to emerge, with the pharmaceutical industry having little incentive due to low profit margins and governments being slow to act in terms of supporting university research.
As a sign of the predicament, half of all children could be affected. Here. Scientists based at Bristol University and Imperial College London examined levels of resistance in urinary tract infections caused by Escherichia coli in children. By studying 80,000 samples, the researchers found that most of the most prescribed antibiotics were ineffective due to microbial resistance. For example, over 50 percent of the isolated organisms were resistant to ampicillin, and 25 percent resistant to trimethoprim, with about 30 percent resistant to the drug co-trimoxazole.
Samples of bacteria isolated from children showed the highest rates of resistance. It is thought this reflects the over-use of antibiotics, at a young age, with many children.
Speaking with The Daily Telegraph, Professor Grant Russell, of Monash University in Australia, noted that the findings were “compelling evidence” of the need to reconsider responses to infections, to cut down on use of antibiotics.
The study, published in the British Medical Journal states: “Our findings detail global high-level resistance to some of the most commonly-prescribed antibiotics for children in primary care, which could result in several drugs becoming ineffective first-line treatments in many countries.”
The study, led by University of Bristol microbiologists, is titled “Global prevalence of antibiotic resistance in paediatric urinary tract infections caused by Escherichia coli and association with routine use of antibiotics in primary care: systematic review and meta-analysis.”
