Unic Press UK: The World Health Organization (WHO) has published a list of what it described as “antibiotic-resistant priority pathogens”, comprising of twelve families of bacteria that pose the highest threat to the health of man.
The list by WHO, which was formulated to espouse research and development (R&D) of new antibiotics given growing concern over resistance to “antimicrobial medicines”, was divided into three categories: critical, high and medium priority.
“The most critical group of all includes multidrug resistant bacteria that pose a particular threat in hospitals, nursing homes, and among patients whose care requires devices such as ventilators and blood catheters. They include Acinetobacter, Pseudomonas and various Enterobacteriaceae (including Klebsiella, E. coli, Serratia, and Proteus). They can cause severe and often deadly infections such as bloodstream infections and pneumonia. “These bacteria have become resistant to a large number of antibiotics, including carbapenems and third generation cephalosporins – the best available antibiotics for treating multi-drug resistant bacteria. The second and third tiers in the list – the high and medium priority categories – contain other increasingly drug-resistant bacteria that cause more common diseases such as gonorrhoea and food poisoning caused by salmonella.” (WHO: February 2017)
The organization is hoping that various governments would deeply weigh in by prioritizing research and development (R&D), and assisting the private sector players and the publicly funded institutions investing in measures aimed at discovering new antibiotics to tackle the present resistance of bacteria to subsisting medicines.
