Scientists from the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy, Princeton University, ETH Zurich and the University of Antwerp in Belgium, have discovered that overuse of antibiotics has led to a situation that super bugs or bugs that are resistant to most antibiotics are on an exponential rise.
These microbes are typically not responsive to the antibiotics that they were initially responsive to.
The study entitled, “Global increase and geographic convergence in antibiotic consumption between 2000 and 2015,” appeared on 26th, March 2018 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The new research shows that antibiotic usage has risen by 39 percent globally between 2000 and 2015 and this had raised the threat of antibiotic resistance.
Over these 16 years, human consumption of antibiotics has risen to 42 billion doses a year, the study found.
This is a 65 percent rise, the study noted. The study estimated that global antibiotic consumption in 2030 shows that it could rise to 200 percent higher than in 2015.
The scientists analysed data from 76 countries and they noted that antibiotic use had increased exponentially, especially in low and middle income countries.
In the high income countries there is a slight decrease of antibiotic use in high income countries.
They noted that several cases antibiotics are prescribed for common colds that are caused by viruses. These are non-responsive to antibiotics. Indiscriminate
use of antibiotics in these cases lead to resistance of several other bacteria.
