Antibiotic resistance assuming pandemic proportions: ICMR

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 11

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has found severe disease-causing bacteria to be resistant to top class antibiotics in 87.5 per cent of hospitalised patients tested for antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

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The WHO has reported AMR as one of the top 10 global health threats. Sagacious use of antibiotics is urgently advised or we will be back to the pre-antibiotic era. Kamini Walia, Author of report

Resistance to carbapenems in superbug Acinetobacter baumannii, associated with nearly 20 per cent ICU infections, was recorded at 87.5 per cent in 2021, limiting the availability of treatment options for people, states ICMR’s fifth AMR Report.

Carbapenems are a very effective class of antibiotic agents commonly used to treat severe bacterial infections. This class of antibiotics is reserved for known or suspected multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacterial infections. Resistance to it indicates exhaustion of further lines of treatment.

Kamini Walia, author of the report, said the trend of AMR, which the WHO has reported as one of the top 10 global health threats, is devastating. “AMR is assuming pandemic proportions in India. Sagacious use of antibiotics is urgently advised or we will be back to the pre-antibiotic era,” she said, referring to the resistant superbug Acinetobacter baumannii which attaches to medical devices and causes devastating infections in the lungs, urinary tract, wounds and bloodstream. The report presents data from January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021.

The report tracked resistance of six pathogens to a broad range of available antibiotics.