California: More than 39 million people will die from infections by 2050 caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria or viruses, a global analysis has found.
A report published this month in The Lancet found that between 1990 and 2021, more than 1 million people died each year from drug-resistant infections, and that number could rise to nearly 2 million more by 2050. .
The report estimates that between 2025 and 2050, a segment of the population could be saved with wider access to appropriate antibiotics and better treatment of infections.
Joseph Leonard, a researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, says that understanding where we stand on the future of resistant infections is critical to the best decisions.
“I think the death toll is probably much higher than what’s being reported here, especially in countries where there are gaps in data,” he said.
Because the world is failing to meet the UN’s goal of reducing deaths caused by antimicrobial resistance by 2030, he said.
