Reducing pollution will help fight superbugs

Up to 10 million people could die each year by the middle of this century due to drug resistance developed by some bacteria and other microbes, according to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) in a report presented recently in Bridgetown (Barbados).

To reduce these alarming figures, the document highlights the need to reduce pollution, especially that generated by the pharmaceutical, health and agricultural sectors.

UNEP is also calling for strengthened measures to reduce the emergence, transmission and spread of “superbugs” (bacteria strains that have become resistant to all known antibiotics) and other cases of drug resistance, which are already taking a toll serious tribute to human, animal and plant health.

The study focuses on the environmental dimensions of the problem generated around bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites that are no longer vulnerable to drugs.

The increasing use and abuse of antimicrobial products and other factors create favorable conditions for microorganisms to develop drug resistance.

This, in turn, poses serious threats to human, animal, plant and environmental health.

Drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis. (Illustration: CDC / Alissa Eckert / James Archer)

Another example of inequality

Microbe drug resistance disproportionately affects low- and middle-income countries, according to the Global Research on Antimicrobial Resistance report.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), drug-resistant microbes are among the top ten global health threats.

In 2019, an estimated 1.27 million deaths worldwide were directly attributed to drug-resistant infections. The estimated number of indirect deaths amounted to about five million. It is estimated that by 2050 there will be about 10 million deaths per year due to the problem of drug resistance in microbes, which is equivalent to the number of deaths caused by cancer globally in 2020.

Food and health in danger

Superbugs also affect the economy and are feared to cause a drop in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of at least $3.4 trillion a year by the end of the decade, pushing some 24 million people into extreme poverty.

Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP, explained that the triple planetary crisis, climate change, pollution and loss of biodiversity, has contributed to this phenomenon.

“Contamination of air, soil and waterways undermines the human right to a clean and healthy environment. The same factors that cause environmental degradation are exacerbating the problem of microbial drug resistance. The effects of microbial drug resistance they could destroy our health and our food systems,” he warned.

A health response

Tackling drug-resistant microbes requires a multisectoral response that recognizes that the health of people, animals, plants, and the environment are closely related and interdependent.

This is in line with the “One Health” framework developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH), UN agencies.

Indeed, FAO “is fully committed to working with its partners to create more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient and sustainable agri-food systems for better production, better nutrition, a better environment and better lives for all,” he said. its CEO, Qu Dongyu. (Fountain: UN News)