Antibiotic overuse is a ticking time bomb for Asia

Katinka De Balogh says governments, individuals and health care professionals must all act to curb misuse before antibiotic-resistant bacteria creates a public health calamity

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Antibiotics are frequently used as a precautionary measure to treat both sick people and animals, but their regular use may contribute to the rise of resistant bacteria with the potential to claim millions of lives. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 11:22am, 14 Nov 2017Updated: 7:35pm, 14 Nov 2017

We’ve all seen it: a sick child, a sore throat, a trip to the doctor – and a prescription for an antibiotic. The problem is that many antibiotics are prescribed when the illness is caused by a virus – not a bacterial infection.

In livestock production and agriculture, we see a similar pattern. Rather than using antibiotics to treat bacterial illnesses, they are often used as a hedge, a safeguard to ensure the valuable animal doesn’t get sick. The problem with casual use of antibiotics is they lose their effect over time as the bacteria adapt to overcome the antibiotic.

Globally, antimicrobial resistance or AMR is becoming a core political, social and economic problem. The implications could never be more real than in Asia where, if no immediate action is taken, by 2050 about five million people are projected to die every year of conditions linked to bacterial infections resistant to antibiotics. This figure will be more than estimated cancer fatalities.

A close-up of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, which has been shown to contribute to several kinds of infections in humans that are difficult to treat. Photo: US National Institutes of Health/Department of Health and Human Services

Health officials in Hong Kong and mainland China unite to battle deadly superbugs after new threat discovered

The irrational use of antibiotics in animal, agriculture and human health sectors plays a major role in this emerging crisis. Widespread dissemination or spread of resistant bacteria or “superbugs” and genes occurs in the environment and food systems.

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