BBC, London :
Drug resistant infections will kill an extra 10 million people a year worldwide – more than currently die from cancer – by 2050 unless action is taken, a study says.
They are currently implicated in 700,000 deaths each year.
The analysis, presented by the economist Jim O’Neill, said the costs would spiral to $100tn (£63tn).
He was appointed by Prime Minister David Cameron in July to head a review of antimicrobial resistance.
Mr O’Neill told the BBC: “To put that in context, the annual GDP [gross domestic product] of the UK is about $3tn, so this would be the equivalent of around 35 years without the UK contribution to the global economy.”
The reduction in population and the impact on ill-health would reduce world economic output by between 2% and 3.5%.
The analysis was based on scenarios modelled by researchers Rand Europe and auditors KPMG.
They found that drug resistant E. coli, malaria and tuberculosis (TB) would have the biggest impact.
In Europe and the United States, antimicrobial resistance causes at least 50,000 deaths each year, they said. And left unchecked, deaths would rise more than 10-fold by 2050.
He said scientists seemed more certain that drug resistance would be a major problem in the short term, than they were over climate change.
Dr Jeremy Farrar, the director the Wellcome Trust, said: “By highlighting the vast financial and human costs that unchecked drug resistance will have, this important research underlines that this is not just a medical problem, but an economic and social one too.”
Prof Dame Sally Davies, chief medical officer for England, said: “This is a compelling piece of work, which takes us a step forward in understanding the true gravity of the threat.”
The review team concludes that solving the problem of drug resistance will be far cheaper than doing nothing and there was “cause for optimism” that the right steps could be taken.
This included university researchers and biotech entrepreneurs “teeming with ideas” including new drugs, vaccines and alternative therapies such as antibodies.
Laura Piddock, professor of microbiology at the University of Birmingham, is focusing her research on bacteria such as E. coli and salmonella, which are responsible for a growing level of drug resistant infections.
Drug resistant infections will kill an extra 10 million people a year worldwide – more than currently die from cancer – by 2050 unless action is taken, a study says.
They are currently implicated in 700,000 deaths each year.
The analysis, presented by the economist Jim O’Neill, said the costs would spiral to $100tn (£63tn).
He was appointed by Prime Minister David Cameron in July to head a review of antimicrobial resistance.
Mr O’Neill told the BBC: “To put that in context, the annual GDP [gross domestic product] of the UK is about $3tn, so this would be the equivalent of around 35 years without the UK contribution to the global economy.”
The reduction in population and the impact on ill-health would reduce world economic output by between 2% and 3.5%.
The analysis was based on scenarios modelled by researchers Rand Europe and auditors KPMG.
They found that drug resistant E. coli, malaria and tuberculosis (TB) would have the biggest impact.
In Europe and the United States, antimicrobial resistance causes at least 50,000 deaths each year, they said. And left unchecked, deaths would rise more than 10-fold by 2050.
He said scientists seemed more certain that drug resistance would be a major problem in the short term, than they were over climate change.
Dr Jeremy Farrar, the director the Wellcome Trust, said: “By highlighting the vast financial and human costs that unchecked drug resistance will have, this important research underlines that this is not just a medical problem, but an economic and social one too.”
Prof Dame Sally Davies, chief medical officer for England, said: “This is a compelling piece of work, which takes us a step forward in understanding the true gravity of the threat.”
The review team concludes that solving the problem of drug resistance will be far cheaper than doing nothing and there was “cause for optimism” that the right steps could be taken.
This included university researchers and biotech entrepreneurs “teeming with ideas” including new drugs, vaccines and alternative therapies such as antibodies.
Laura Piddock, professor of microbiology at the University of Birmingham, is focusing her research on bacteria such as E. coli and salmonella, which are responsible for a growing level of drug resistant infections.
