A review of all meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials conducted between 1968 and 2011 has produced evidence that antibiotic-resistant bacteria are particularly detrimental to patients suffering from surgical site infections and blood cancer chemotherapy.
The study, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, reported that 39 percent of post-caesarian section infections, 50 percent to 90 percent of post-transrectal prostate biopsy infections and 27 percent of infections following blood cancer chemotherapy are caused by bacteria that don't respond to the recommended antibiotic treatments.
"This is the first study to estimate the impact of antibiotic resistance on broader medical care in the United States," Ramanan Laxminarayan, MD, director of the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy, said in a statement. "A lot of common surgical procedures and cancer chemotherapy will be virtually impossible if antibiotic resistance is not tackled urgently. Not only is there an immediate need for up-to-date information to establish how antibiotic prophylaxis recommendations should be modified in the face of increasing resistance, but we also need new strategies for the prevention and control of antibiotic resistance at national and international levels."
Researchers estimate an additional 10 percent drop in antibiotic efficacy could result in between 40,000 and 280,000 additional infections annually in the U.S. A 70 percent decrease could mean up to an additional 15,000 infection-related deaths per year.