A couple of years ago, doctors were worried about multi-drug resistant microorganisms and the health problems caused by them. They are now worried about organisms that are “totally” drug resistant. Experts warn the rise of these microbes may render all the available antibiotics useless.
These ‘superbugs’ have been cited as the cause for a world health crisis and has been called to attention by organizations like World Health Organization (WHO), the European Union (EU), World Economic Forum and even UK’s chief medical officer. In fact, WHO has even called the lack of new drugs capable of fighting bacteria as one of the most significant global risks facing modern medicine.
“I see around two to three cases every week now in which the available drugs would not be effective. In such cases, doctors have no option but to give the patient a blanket treatment and the result depends on the patients immunity and luck after that,” said pathologist Dr Madhavi Deshmukh.
Dr Deshmukh who worked on drug resistance alongside researchers from MD Anderson Cancer Center at Houston, Texas, USA, said some simple measures could help reduce these infections by 50%. “It calls for some very basic and simple precautions to reduce their number. Another thing that can be done is limiting the hospital stay of patients by promoting more day care kind of procedures,” she said.
