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Global, multibillion-dollar fight against superbugs: “Drs should be encouraged to use Diagnostic Tests”
19 May 2016 – The Age: Superbugs will kill 10 million people a year by 2050
This recent article published in The Age describes a call to action from Britain’s chancellor, George Osborne, to the finance ministers from around the world, to agree on a common approach to fight the threat of antibiotic-resistant bacteria at the September G20 meeting.
“Britain’s Treasury secretary Jim O’Neill released the results of an 18-month review into antimicrobial resistance, warning that superbugs will kill 10 million people a year by 2050 – more than cancer kills today…
“The most effective work would be to reduce the demand for antibiotics, Lord O’Neill said. This was the only way to “change the game permanently”.
Doctors, and patients, needed to “stop treating antibiotics like sweets”. Instead he said doctors should be encouraged to use diagnostic tests to first prove that a patient genuinely needed an antibiotic, before prescribing it.”
