Today [21 May 2013] Jeremy Hunt addressed  the World Health Assembly made up of representatives of all member states.  Discussion will be based on a report published by the Department of Health  Antibiotic Resistance – a Threat to Global Health Security and the Case for Action that details ways in which countries are tacking AMR.   Following the CMO’s challenge in her annual report in March, Professor Dame Sally Davies will jointly host a seminar on 22 May 2013 with the Swedish Health Minister. It will include speeches from senior officials from the Philippines, India and Australia.

The full proceedings of the event Lessons to be learnt from Pharma in discovering and developing antibacterial drugs,  held 21 May at the Wellcome Trust, London, were recorded and a podcast of the full proceedings will be published here for wider benefit in the near future.

View the episode here:  Bang Goes the Theory

Guardian – New wave of ‘superbugs’ poses dire threat, says chief medical officer

Channel 4 – Warning issued over superbug threat

BBC – Analysis: Antibiotic apocalypse

Guardian – Letter from Professor Colin Garner, Antibiotic Discovery UK, University of York - http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/mar/12/taking-up-the-superbug-challenge

Syndicated coverage:

Huffington Post – Antibiotic Resistance Poses ‘Catastrophic Threat’ To Medicine, Says Britain’s Top Health Official

Digital Journal.com – UK Chief Medic: Antibiotic resistance a ‘catastrophic threat’

Examiner.com – Drug resistant infections may rival climate change for threat to humanity

Red Orbit.com – Antibiotic-Resistant Superbugs A Growing Global Health Threat

KpopStarz – Catastrophic Threat Due to Antibiotic Discovery Void

ElUniverso – Superbacterias resistentes evolucionan para evadir antibióticos

India – Bakteri Semakin Berkembang Akibat Antibiotik Tak Bekerja

Finland – Antibioottien tehottomuus uhkaa ihmiskuntaa

Italy -  Batteria del ressistenze ……..

Related coverage

Pharma Times, 4 March – New antibiotics needed for UK gonorrhoea threat

The CMO said we could routinely see deaths from minor surgery within 20 years if new antibiotics are not discovered – highlighting the immediate and imminement threats that  antimicrobial resistance poses. She has called for politicians to act now, and for global action to be taken.

Her report mirrors calls made by Antibiotic Action- a UK led global initiative funded by BSAC – insisting the “discovery void” is addressed – few new antibiotics have been developed in the past two decades despite a new infectious disease being discovered every year for the past 30 years.  The report highlights how our amoury of antibiotics is nearly empty at a time when diseases are evolving and becoming more resistance to existing drugs.  In speaking of her report Professor Dame Sally Davies said:

“Antimicrobial resistance poses a catastrophic threat. If we don’t act now, any one of us could go into hospital in 20 years for minor surgery and die because of an ordinary infection that can’t be treated by antibiotics. And routine operations like hip replacements or organ transplants could be deadly because of the risk of infection.

“That’s why governments and organisations across the world, including the World Health Organization and G8, need to take this seriously.

“This is not just about government action. We need to encourage more innovation in the development of antibiotics – over the past two decades there has been a discovery void around antibiotics, meaning diseases have evolved faster than the drugs to treat them.

“In some areas, like cutting rates of drug resistant MRSA, the NHS is already making good progress so it’s important that we use that knowledge across the system and I hope my recommendations will prompt people to do that.”

Professor Laura Piddock, Director of Antibiotic Action said “We are pleased that the issue is now so high on the government and Departmental agenda, and are pleased to report that as an outcome of Antibiotic Action Jamie Reed, Shadow Minister for Health has agreed to Chair an All Party Parlimanentary Group on Antibiotics.  This is an important move which will place the issue of antibiotic resistance and the need for new antibiotic firmly on the political agenda.”  She continued by saying “Antibiotic Action is working hard to educate all on the need for new antibiotics, and is actively collaborating with likewise initiatives globally – in particular ReAct in Europe and Infectious Diseases Society of America and we look forward to working with the Department of Health to deliver the recommendations of the CMO’s report and the forthcoming DH strategy on anitmicrobial resistance“.

MPs heard that the rise in drug resistant infections is comparable to the threat of global warming and needed much more attention, pointing out that drug reistant infections have the capacity to trigger a national emergency comparable to a catastrophic terrorist attack, pandemic flu or major coastal flooding.

In an article published in the Guardian, she is quoted as saying ”There are few public health issues of potentially greater importance for society than antibiotic resistance. It means we are at increasing risk of developing infections that cannot be treated – but resistance can be managed.  That is why we will be publishing a new cross-government strategy and action plan to tackle this issue in early spring.”

Further press coverage from the BBC news service, The Guardian and Metro can be accessed below:

BBC news report
The Guardian newspaper
The Metro

Note:
The national risk register was established in 2008 to advise the public and businesses on national emergencies that Britain could face in the next five years. The highest priority risks on the latest register include a deadly flu outbreak, catastrophic terrorist attacks, and major flooding on the scale of 1953, the last occasion on which a national emergency was declared in the UK.

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Professor Laura Piddock, Director of Antibiotic Action participated in the conference that shaped the final report, a third of which is dedicated to examining threats to human health in the section entitled The Dangers of Hubris on Human Health that includes examination of the threat posed by antibiotic resistance bacteria.

The full report Global Risks 2013 can be accessed here.

In addition to expressing concern in a letter published in the British Medical Journal, the Society has offered commentary in an article published in The Times.  Speaking on behalf of BSAC, Professor Laura Piddock said “These initiatives to make access to antibiotics easier are counterproductive. BSAC believes that such initiatives are, at very least, against the spirit of antibiotic stewardship and should be strongly discouraged.” She said that while online prescribing was suitable for some conditions, antibiotics were different because poor use of the drugs by one patient can have an impact on the population as a whole by allowing bacteria to become resistant. “We don’t disagree with widening access to medicine; we just don’t think it’s right for antibiotics,” she said.

Click here to read the full report.