Rising antibiotic resistance threatens global health: WHO

NEW DELHI: One in six laboratory-confirmed bacterial infections causing common illnesses in people worldwide in 2023 were resistant to antibiotic treatments, according to a new report by the World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday. Between 2018 and 2023, antibiotic resistance increased in over 40 per cent of the pathogen-antibiotic combinations monitored, with an average annual rise of 515 per cent. Data reported to the WHO Global Antimicrobial Resistance and Use Surveillance System (GLASS) from more than 100 countries warn that the growing resistance to essential antibiotics poses an escalating threat to global health. The new Global antibiotic resistance surveillance report 2025 presents, for the first time, resistance prevalence estimates across 22 antibiotics used to treat infections of the urinary and gastrointestinal tracts, the bloodstream, and those used to treat gonorrhoea. The report covers eight common bacterial pathogens Acinetobacter spp. , Escherichia coli , Klebsiella pneumoniae , Neisseria gonorrhoeae , non-typhoidal Salmonella spp. , Shigella spp. , Staphylococcus aureus , and Streptococcus pneumoniae each linked to one or more of these infections. WHO estimates that antibiotic resistance is highest in the South-East Asian and Eastern Mediterranean regions, where one in three reported infections were resistant. In the African region, one in five infections was resistant. Resistance is also more common and worsening in countries where health systems lack the capacity to diagnose or treat bacterial pathogens. Antimicrobial resistance is outpacing advances in modern medicine, threatening the health of families worldwide, said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. As countries strengthen their AMR surveillance systems, we must use antibiotics responsibly, and make sure everyone has access to the right medicines, quality-assured diagnostics, and vaccines. Our future also depends on strengthening systems to prevent, diagnose and treat infections and on innovating with next-generation antibiotics and rapid point-of-care molecular tests. The new report notes that drug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria are becoming increasingly dangerous worldwide, with the greatest burden falling on countries least equipped to respond. Among these, E. coli and K. pneumoniae are the leading drug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria found in bloodstream infections. These are among the most severe bacterial infections, often resulting in sepsis, organ failure, and death. More than 40 per cent of E. coli and over 55 per cent of K. pneumoniae globally are now resistant to third-generation cephalosporins, the first-choice treatment for these infections. In the African region, resistance exceeds 70 per cent. Other essential life-saving antibiotics, including carbapenems and fluoroquinolones, are losing effectiveness against E. coli , K. pneumoniae , Salmonella , and Acinetobacter . Carbapenem resistance, once rare, is becoming more frequent, narrowing treatment options and forcing reliance on last-resort antibiotics. These drugs are costly, difficult to access, and often unavailable in low- and middle-income countries, the report said. The political declaration on AMR adopted at the United Nations General Assembly in 2024 set targets to address antimicrobial resistance through strengthening health systems and working with a One Health approach, coordinating across human health, animal health, and environmental sectors. To combat the growing challenge of AMR, countries must commit to strengthening laboratory systems and generating reliable surveillance data, particularly from underserved areas, to inform treatments and policies. WHO calls on all countries to report high-quality data on AMR and antimicrobial use to GLASS by 2030. Achieving this target will require concerted action to strengthen the quality, geographic coverage, and sharing of AMR surveillance data to track progress. Countries should scale up coordinated interventions designed to address antimicrobial resistance across all levels of healthcare and ensure that treatment guidelines and essential medicines lists align with local resistance patterns.