Superbugs are on track to kill 10 million people by 2050 if things don’t change—fast
In November of 2015, scientists in southeastern China were combing through bacterial samples collected from hospitals in the Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces when they discovered something that would immediately grab the attention of the entire medical community.
Many of the bacteria collected were carrying a new gene called MCR-1. It’s an innocuous-sounding name for a sequence of DNA code, but it poses a potentially deadly threat to millions around the world. MCR-1 produces an enzyme that makes bacteria invincible to one of the world’s most powerful antibiotics, a drug called colistin, which is only used as a last resort when all other antibiotics have failed.
This rogue gene is making hordes of bacteria immune to colistin–and it is spreading rapidly across the globe. So far, MCR-1 has been detected in at least ten countries, including Canada, China, and the UK.
According to research published in The Lancet, the gene’s emergence appears to be at least partially linked to the use of colistin in agriculture. While the use of the drug in hospitals is now extremely restricted, an almost mind-boggling 12,000 tonnes (13,228 tons) of colistin were used in animal production last year. Over the next five years alone, its annual use is predicted to rise to 16,500 tonnes (18,188 tons).
The threat to colistin is far from a one-off. Over the past few decades, our existing antibiotics have increasingly been rendered useless, one by one. But no one can say we haven’t been warned.
Drug resistance is inevitable
Drug resistance is inevitable
More than 70 years ago, Alexander Fleming was awarded the Nobel Prize for his discovery of penicillin. In his lecture at the Nobel Banquet on Dec. 11, 1945, it seemed Fleming could already see cloudy skies ahead. “The time may come when penicillin can be bought by anyone in the shops,” he told his audience.
Fleming knew that overuse of penicillin would drive microbial resistance. Prophetically, he warned that the biggest threat to the future of antibiotics was not so much the bacteria themselves, but ignorance. But few were listening. In 1950, scientists from a New York laboratory discovered that adding antibiotics to livestock feed accelerated their growth.
Prophetically, Alexander Fleming warned that the biggest threat to the future of antibiotics was ignorance.
This realization, coupled with innovations in mass production, made the drugs cheaper than conventional supplements. Data collected in 2010 and published in the journal PNAS by an international consortium of scientists revealed that more than 63,000 tonnes(69,446 tons) of antibiotics are being used in livestock production across the globe, particularly in the developing world.
But with exposure comes evolution. Over time, mutations occur, resulting in bacterial strains resistant to elimination until the development of a new chemical. The more times an antibiotic is used, the greater the likelihood of provoking a mutation.
