Antimicrobial resistance is now widespread, warns WHO

Widespread resistance to antimicrobial drugs is not a future threat—it is happening now in hospitals and in the community, a report from the World Health Organization warns.1

The report looked at data from 114 countries and found that antimicrobial resistance was occurring in every region of all the countries.

Keiji Fukuda, WHO’s assistant director general for health security, said that though this was a global threat it affected developing countries disproportionately.

He added, “Antimicrobial drugs are one of the foundations of modern healthcare. There are certain infections for which we have maintained targeted health efforts to control—infections like HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis. Much of our ability to address these infections is going to become eroded.”

The report found high rates of …