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The world is on the brink of a crisis caused by microbial resistance to antibiotics
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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The world is on the brink of a crisis caused by antibiotic resistance, World Health Organization chief Margaret Chan said at a conference in Copenhagen on Friday.
Humanity, according to Chen, is dealing with such a level of antibiotic resistance that this situation could mean "the end of medicine as we know it." We are entering a "post-antibiotic era," Chen emphasized. Every antibiotic ever developed could become useless at any moment.
According to Chen, doctors are losing so-called "first-line antibiotics." As a result, manipulations that were once routine are simply impossible. This applies equally to the treatment of infections such as tuberculosis or malaria, as well as to the banal surgical treatment of cuts.
Drugs that replace antibiotics that have lost their effectiveness are becoming more expensive, and longer courses of treatment are needed to achieve the same effect. "Such common things as a sore throat or a scratch on the knee can become deadly again in a child," Chen said. The mortality rate of patients infected with antibiotic-resistant strains of microorganisms in some cases increases by 50 percent. At the same time, the use of less common antibiotics often requires hospitalization, is associated with a toxic effect on the patient's body and is always more expensive.
The conditions for this crisis, the head of WHO noted, have been forming for decades. The main reasons for it are the incorrect use of antibacterial drugs, which are chosen incorrectly, taken too often or for too long.
WHO calls on governments of the world to support research into antibiotic resistance. "The lack of resources in the doctors' arsenal requires innovation," the statement says.