Study: Superbugs Predicted to Kill 39M by 2050

Improve the News Foundation -
0:00
/1861

Facts

  • The Global Research on Antimicrobial Resistance (GRAM) Project found that superbugs — bacterial strains or pathogens that develop resistance to antibiotics — are projected to kill over 39M people by 2050, particularly older people.[1]
  • GRAM found that while deaths of children under five due to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) decreased by almost 50% from 1990-2021, deaths for those over 70 increased by 80% over the same period.[2]
  • Annual AMR deaths over that period exceeded 1M, with GRAM predicting it to directly cause 2M yearly deaths by 2050. Among these superbugs is a staph bacteria called MRSA, which caused 130K deaths in 2021, double from 30 years prior.[3]
  • The World Health Organization calls AMR, which is also expected to play some indirect role in an additional 8.2M annual deaths, 'one of the top global public health and development threats.'[4][3]
  • In addition to directly killing almost 40M by 2050, the researchers say that AMR could also contribute to an additional 169M deaths. However, with increased access to and proper use of antimicrobial drugs, they suggest that 92M lives could be saved.[5]

Sources: [1]Guardian, [2]France 24, [3]South China Morning Post, [4]CNN and [5]RFI.

Narratives

  • Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by WHO. AMR is a global phenomenon that threatens both rich and poor countries. Due in large part to antibiotic misuse, more people are now at risk of contracting deadly diseases like HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis. To fix this, both national and global bodies, alongside industry leaders, must track antibiotic usage, work toward eradicating its abuse, and invest in new, non-resistant medicines.
  • Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Climatejusticecenter. AMR is the result of collusion between the agricultural and pharmaceutical industries. While Big Agribusiness profits off of pumping its factory farm animals full of antibiotics, Big Pharma gets rich by selling the antibiotics to them. What's worse is that they get away with it by spending millions of dollars annually on lobbying the government and funding misleading research.

Predictions