How superbugs have taken hold

The overuse of antibiotics is hastening the mutation of bacteria into "superbugs". GP Kidd / Blend Images

Overuse of antibiotics has meant that once-treatable conditions can be fatal

Reports of the death of an American woman who was infected with anti­biotic-resistant bacteria have alarmed many people. The killer bug, Klebsiella pneumoniae, has been around for billions of years, can be found around the world and is one of several organisms known to have mutated to resist treatment by conventional means.

The woman who died in Nevada was probably infected in India, where she underwent treatment for a leg fracture and a hip infection. While her case has hit the headlines, because it was featured in a report by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it is estimated that, in 2013 alone, 58,000 Indian newborns died from infections caused by drug-defying bacteria. There are other contributing health and hygiene factors in India, but this statistic is frightening.

The discovery of antibiotics – and especially that of penicillin, which was first used during the Second World War – revolutionised medicine and saved hundreds of millions of lives.

There are more than 100 known antibiotics, but many of them are similar and they fall into about seven broad groups, including penicillins such as the commonly prescribed amoxycillin, fluoroquinolones, including Floxin, and cephalosporins such as Keflex. Only 26 antibiotics are approved for use in the United States and none of these – including carbapenem antibiotics, regarded as “the drugs of last defence” – were effective in the Nevada case.

The reason these drugs are losing their potency is that the microorganisms that cause disease mutate to survive. This is a slow and natural process that has been sped up by the overuse of antibiotics. In the US, one study found that at least 30 per cent of antibiotic prescriptions were unnecessary. But anti­biotics are also finding their way into the food chain via farm animals which, in many countries, are routinely fed drug cocktails.

And in some places – including the UAE – antibiotics can be obtained over the counter at pharmacies without a doctor’s consultation or prescription, and they are too often used for conditions that can be treated with other simple drugs.

A government-commissioned report in the United Kingdom last year concluded that a failure to act on drug-resistant infections will lead to 10 million more deaths each year and cost the global economy $100 trillion (Dh367tn) by 2050.

Britain's National Health Service notes on its website that we can slow down the development of antibiotic resistance by using antibiotics in the right way – "the right drug, at the right dose, at the right time, for the right duration". We should not skip doses, share our antibiotics with others or save some for later. We should also not request antibiotics to treat colds or the flu, because these are viruses that are not treatable with antibiotics.

Scientists are desperately looking for alternatives. These include bacteriocins, which are poisonous proteins; “good” bacteria that attack “bad” bacteria; and viruses called phages that can treat some bacterial infections. So far, however, there is no silver bullet.