In a meeting of the UN on Wednesday, member countries pledged for the first time to put measures in place to combat superbugs that don't respond to antibiotics.
Drug-resistant superbugs are becoming more of a threat as antibiotic use increases around the world. Although antibiotics are helpful in many cases, overuse leads to mutations in bacterial strains that make infections resistant to cure. Health officials have warned governments for years that drug-resistant superbugs were becoming more prevalent and could lead to major problems.
"Antimicrobial resistance poses a fundamental threat to human health, development, and security," said Dr. Margaret Chan, UN director-general of the World Health Organization, Reuters reported.
Some common infections like pneumonia, gonorrhea, and post-operative infections are becoming harder to treat because of drug-resistant strains.
Plans to combat superbugs include tightening regulation of antimicrobial medicines, finding new alternatives, and better diagnostics so that the right treatments are given, as well as vaccines to prevent infections.
“AMR (antimicrobial resistance) is a problem not just in our hospitals, but on our farms and in our food too,” said UN Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization Dr. Jose Graziano da Silva, Reuters reported.
AMR is estimated to cause 700,000 deaths from the diseases themselves and from lack of care from overburdened health systems in some countries.
According to Reuters, Dr. Martin Blaser, chair of President Barack Obama’s Advisory Council for Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria, reported more than 300,000 tons of antibiotics are used worldwide each year, which he said accounts for about 10 doses for each person in the world.
Much of those may come by way of our meat, since 80 percent of the world’s antibiotics go into animal feed, which they ingest and later we eat, says NBC News.