Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a looming public health crisis impacting every country globally with a disproportionate impact on lives and livelihood in low and middle-income countries. A recent report from the Global Research on AntiMicrobial resistance (GRAM) project found that in 2019, an estimated 4.95 million people suffered from at least one drug-resistant infection and AMR directly caused 1.27 million deaths.
AMR is one of India’s major public health problems, directly contributing to about 30% of deaths due to neonatal sepsis across India. These are due to multidrug-resistant (MDR) hospital-acquired infections in many cases. Over 30% of the COVID-19 deaths in India could be attributed to our failure to treat the secondary bacterial infections caused by MDR pathogens with the appropriate antibiotics.
Irrational antibiotic use by the medical community, the general public and the farmers generate drug-resistant superbugs. Inadequate infection control measures in the hospitals and the sanitation issues in the community result in the dissemination of these superbugs. Currently, there is no reliable and rapid point of care diagnostics that can guide the clinician with the right choice of antibiotic to be used. and spare indiscriminate use when not required.
