Antibiotic-resistant diseases pose ‘apocalyptic’ threat, top expert says

Ian Sample
guardian.co.uk
January 24, 2013

Britain’s most senior medical adviser has warned MPs that the rise in drug-resistant diseases could trigger a national emergency comparable to a catastrophic terrorist attack, pandemic flu or major coastal flooding.

Dame Sally Davies, the chief medical officer, said the threat from infections that are resistant to frontline antibiotics was so serious that the issue should be added to the government’s national risk register of civil emergencies.

She described what she called an “apocalyptic scenario” where people going for simple operations in 20 years’ time die of routine infections “because we have run out of antibiotics”.

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This article was posted: Thursday, January 24, 2013 at 8:52 am

Tags: health, science

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