Antibiotic research, production, distribution and use must undergo a complete transformation if the world hopes to avoid losing the power of antibiotics altogether, according to major report published in The Lancet: Infectious Diseases.
The report, penned by 26 of the world's leading experts on antibiotics and antibiotic resistance, provides a birds-eye view of the problem of antibiotic resistance complete with areas for immediate action. The authors express their concerns about the scope and severity of the problem, writing "within just a few years, we might be faced with dire setbacks, medically, socially and economically, unless real and unprecedented global coordinated actions are immediately taken."
The authors provide an in-depth exploration of the sources of the problem — antibiotic use patterns, diagnostic uncertainty, antibiotics in agriculture and excessive antibiotic access — discussing the contribution of each factor to the near-crisis in antibiotic effectiveness today.
The report culminates in an examination of academia and assessing the problem as well as a litany of potential solutions to begin reversing the problem. According to the authors, these solutions include measurement, regulation, improved diagnostic speed, reduced antibiotic use in the agricultural sector, inter-governmental coordination of solutions and global governance of the issue.
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