Doctors need dragging out of their comfort zone to avert the antimicrobial crisis, says lord

Doctors need “dragging out of their comfort zone” and should be using highly sensitive diagnostic tests rather than relying on an “educated guess” when prescribing antibiotics, Jim O’Neill, former commercial secretary to the Treasury, has said. The action is needed to avert the predicted 10 million annual deaths and $100 trillion (£80 trillion; €95 trillion) loss to global gross domestic product from antimicrobial resistance by 2050, he said.

O’Neill, who chaired a review on antimicrobial resistance earlier this year,1 was answering questions from MPs on the science and technology select committee …