\u201cMultidrug-resistance is bad, but once a pathogen gains resistance to all known antibiotics, known as pan-resistance, a dramatically rapid shift, rather than a gradual rise in public health impacts, can be expected,\u201d said lead author Benjamin Koch<\/strong>, senior research scientist at NAU\u2019s Center for Ecosystem Science and Society (Ecoss). \u201cThis research assesses the likely speed and magnitude of those expected impacts and essentially says, \u2018Hold up, this problem could rapidly become orders of magnitude worse than we\u2019ve been planning for.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Ecoss director and Regents\u2019 professor of biology Bruce Hungate also was a co-author, along with researchers from the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University and University of Minnesota<\/p>\n The researchers modeled the impact of one hypothetical pan-resistant strain of E. coli<\/em> on sepsis deaths in the United States using long-term data on incidence, mortality rates and treatment outcomes. The models, looking at a spectrum from conservative to aggressive potential results, showed that sepsis deaths could increase by 18 to 46 times just five years after the introduction of such a strain.<\/p>\n That strain doesn\u2019t exist\u2014yet\u2014but the rate at which bacteria are evolving and gaining pan-resistance means it is coming. With the available data, researchers aren\u2019t able to predict the timing of pan-resistance with any accuracy; it could be in a year, Koch said, or it could be in a century.<\/p>\n Pan-resistant bacteria will adversely affect every population. This is actually rather unusual. Typically, people in high-income countries have access to higher-quality healthcare, so when they get an infection, they can access different kinds of antibiotics. However, antibiotic pan-resistance erases those advantages, and more people throughout the globe will die from previously treatable infections.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the bad news. The good news is there are actions governments, industry and individuals can take to reduce the risk and slow antibiotic resistance. That includes governments strengthening policies around the safe use of existing antibiotics in both food-animal and healthcare industries and incentivizing the development of new antibiotics. There also are technologies that could monitor the emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance.<\/p>\n On an individual level, Koch said, people should use antibiotics only when necessary as directed by a healthcare provider and should\u00a0support policies that strengthen the stewardship of existing antibiotics and promote the development of new antibiotics, a process that has slowed to a virtual halt in recent years.<\/p>\n \u201cWe must reduce the forces that currently promote the evolution and dissemination of antibiotic-resistant pathogens,\u201d the authors wrote. \u201cGlobally, this means improving antibiotic stewardship in human and veterinary medicine and in food-animal production.\u201d<\/p>\n Heidi Toth | NAU CommunicationsWhat they did and what they found<\/strong><\/h3>\n
What this means and why you should care<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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\n(928) 523-8737 | heidi.toth@nau.edu<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"