Over the past few decades, the overuse and misuse of antibiotics has been slowly and steadily creating pockets of “superbugs”: antibiotic-resistant bacteria that can cause untreatable infections. Experts have been warning for some time that our antibiotic use is unsustainable and now the UK’s chief medical officer, Dame Sally Davies, is calling for urgent action worldwide against what she is calling “a catastrophic threat.” Saying these superbugs have the potential to pose a greater threat than global warming, Davies called for more proactive medical treatment than prescriptive, reactionary treatment.
“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 Organisation and G8, need to take this seriously” …