Drug-Resistant Superbugs Could Kill Millions by 2050

Mar. 15, 2025

A petri dish containing antibiotic-resistant strains.Photo:Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP

Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP

Per theLos Angeles Times, theGlobal Research on Antimicrobial Resistance Project(GRAM) adds that a further 8.22 million people could die of causes related to the infections.

According to the GRAM website, the project is a collaboration between the University of Oxford and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, looking at the risk of antimicrobial resistance and promotion of “the rational use of antimicrobials worldwide.”

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“The numbers in theLancetpaper represent a staggering and unacceptable level of human suffering,” Henry Skinner, chief executive of the AMR Action Fund, said, per theLA Times. “A continued failure of governments to meet their moral obligations to protect and care for their people, as this paper shows, will doom millions of people to needless deaths.”

Strain of Candida auris.Shawn Lockhart/CDC via AP

Shawn Lockhart/CDC via AP

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The study claims that people 70 and above will be the most affected age group in the antimicrobial resistance deaths.

The mortality rate from resistant pathogens across all ages was also estimated to be highest in South Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.

“The data shows that if we take action toward better stewardship practices, improved access in low- and middle-income countries, and new investments to bolster the antibiotic pipeline, then we can save tens of millions of lives,” James Anderson, chair of the AMR Industry Alliance, stated, per theLA Times.

source: people.com