New publications
25,000 people die each year in the EU from antibiotic-resistant infections
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
All iLive content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible.
We have strict sourcing guidelines and only link to reputable media sites, academic research institutions and, whenever possible, medically peer reviewed studies. Note that the numbers in parentheses ([1], [2], etc.) are clickable links to these studies.
If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please select it and press Ctrl + Enter.
Britain is facing a "massive" rise in antibiotic-resistant infections caused by E. coli, the Independent reports.
"Experts say the rise of antibiotic resistance poses as serious a threat to global health as the emergence of new diseases such as AIDS or pandemic influenza," notes the article's author, Jeremy Lawrence.
Professor Peter Hawkey, a clinical microbiologist and chair of the UK government's Antibiotic Resistance Taskforce, said the problem of antibiotic resistance in medicine was as significant as global warming in other areas.
The "slow but steady increase" in drug-resistant strains threatens to turn common infectious diseases into incurable ones, he said. Antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections already kill 25,000 people a year in the EU.
"This is a global problem - it has no borders," the expert said. "The UK has a very good policy on the use of antibiotics for humans and animals. But we are not alone. We need to think on a global scale."
[