Tackling the AMR crisis in healthcare

The threat posed by antimicrobial resistance (AMR) was high on the agenda at the Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) conference this year. Professor Mark Wilcox, National Director for Antimicrobial Resistance and Infection Prevention and Control, NHS England, highlighted some disturbing epidemiology regarding the rates of acquired carbapenemase-producing Gram-negative episodes, which have shown a worrying rise over the past three years. Samples suggest that the North-West has a particular problem with carbapenemase-producing Gram-negative infections, and the data shows a preponderance of Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase (KPC) positive samples in the North-West — unlike other parts of the country.

He went on to highlight some hard-hitting facts — including figures from WHO that suggest that bacterial resistance was directly responsible for 1.27 million global deaths in 2019. Furthermore, this figure is estimated to become 50 million by 2050, if we do not reverse current trends. In addition, these 50 million deaths will outnumber cancer deaths.

Prof. Wilcox presented a graph indicating the predictions for the number of additional deaths per year for various surgical specialties, based on four scenarios of decreased efficacy of antibiotic prophylaxis (a 10%, 30%, 70% and 100% increase in resistance). The projections show that the increase in deaths for specialties where there is a frequent risk of contamination, such as colorectal surgery, will be very marked indeed.