World health experts reveal the 12 most terrifying superbugs branded the ‘greatest threat to human health’
The World Health Organisation warns antibiotics are increasingly powerless to combat the deadly bacteria
OFFICIALS have drawn up a list of the world’s most terrifying superbugs – branded the “greatest threat to human health”.
The World Health Organisation warns antibiotics are increasingly powerless to combat the deadly bacteria.
'CRITICAL' PRIORITY BUGS
The World Health Organisation has classified three strains of bacteria "critical" priority.
1. Acinetobacter baumannii - which can cause serious lung, blood and brain infections
2. Pseudomonas aeruginosa - which can trigger pneumonia, urinary tract infections and bacteremia
3. Enterobacteriaceae - which is causes diarrhoea and dysentery
And they say new drugs are “urgently” required.
Medics have previously revealed antimicrobial resistance poses a bigger threat than cancer, with the potential to kill 10million people a year by 2050.
If antibiotics lose their effectiveness, organ transplants, caesareans, joint replacements and chemotherapy will become too dangerous to perform.
Some 700,000 people around the world already die due to drug-resistant infections each year.
Now the WHO has compiled a list of 12 “priority pathogens” for the first time.
It hopes the list will spur governments into adopting policies that incentivise researchers to develop new drugs.
Within a generation, without new antibiotics, deaths from drug resistant infection could reach 10million a year
Tim Jinks
Experts came up with the list by examining a number of criteria, including how deadly the bacteria are, how easily they spread and whether new treatments are already in the pipeline.
The list categorises bacteria into “critical”, “high” and “medium” priority groups, according to the urgency of need for new antibiotics.
The most critical group includes multi-drug resistant bacteria that pose a particular threat in hospitals and nursing homes.
'HIGH' PRIORITY SUPERBUGS
WHO has classified these superbugs a "high" priority to tackle
4. Enterococcus faecium - which can cause meningitis, endocarditis (an infection of the heart muscle) and UTIs
5. Staphylococcus aureus - whhich can cause meningitis, toxic shock syndrome, sepsis and pneumonia among other deadly infections
6. Helicobacter pylori - which cancause stomach infections, ulcers and has been linked to stomach cancer
7. Campylobacter - one of the most common bacterial infections in humans, that is food borne
8. Salomnellae - a common cause of food poisoning
9. Neisseria gonorrhoeae - the bacteria that causes sexually transmitted gonorrhoea
The bacteria on this list can cause severe and often deadly infections, such as bloodstream infections and pneumonia.
Other increasingly drug-resistant bacteria, which are deemed “high” and “medium” priority, cause more common diseases such as gonorrhoea and food poisoning caused by salmonella.
The WHO said the 12 bacteria have built-in abilities to find new ways to resist treatment and can pass along genetic material that allows other bacteria to become drug-resistant as well.
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Dr Marie-Paule Kieny, from the WHO, said: “This list is a new tool to ensure research and development responds to urgent public health needs.
“Antibiotic resistance is growing and we are fast running out of treatment options.
“If we leave it to market forces alone, the new antibiotics we most urgently need are not going to be developed in time.”
Professor Evelina Tacconelli, who helped compile the list at the University of Tübingen, Germany, said: “New antibiotics targeting this priority list of pathogens will help to reduce deaths due to resistant infections around the world.
'MEDIUM' PRIORITY SUPERBUGS
These three bugs have been classified as a "medium" priority by WHO
10. Streptococcus pneumoniae - which can cause bacterial meningitis, peritonitis, endocarditis and other killer infections
11. Haemophilus influenzae - which can cause pneumonia, meningitis, septic arthritis, cellulitis and other killer illnesses
12. Shigella - an intestinal diseases that causes diarrhoea, which is often bloody
“Waiting any longer will cause further public health problems and dramatically impact on patient care.”
Medical research charity the Wellcome Trust said the list was important to steer research into new antibiotics.
Tim Jinks, head of drug resistant infections at the trust, said: “This priority pathogens list, developed with input from across our community, is important to steer research in the race against drug resistant infection - one of the greatest threats to modern health.
“Without effective drugs, doctors cannot treat patients.
“Within a generation, without new antibiotics, deaths from drug resistant infection could reach 10million a year.
“Without new medicines to treat deadly infection, lifesaving treatments will be potentially fatal.”
Tuberculosis – whose resistance to traditional treatment has been growing in recent years – was not included in the list because it is targeted by other, dedicated programmes.
Other bacteria that were not included, such as streptococcus A and B and chlamydia, have low levels of resistance to existing treatments and do not currently pose a significant public health threat.