Killer bugs top priority for new antibiotics

New list of bacteria which pose ‘greatest threat’ to humans

Health officials have drawn up a list of bugs which are in “urgent” need of new antibiotics.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has published a list of bacteria which pose the “greatest threat to human health” because they are resistant to antibiotics.

Health experts have previously warned that resistance to the drugs that are used to fight infections could cause a bigger threat to mankind than cancer.

If antibiotics lose their effectiveness, key medical procedures – including organ transplantation, caesarean sections, joint replacements and chemotherapy – could become too dangerous to perform.

Around 700,000 people around the world die annually due to drug-resistant infections and, if no action is taken, it has been estimated that such infections will kill 10 million people a year by 2050.

Now, the WHO has come up with a list of antibiotic-resistant “priority pathogens” – 12 families of bacteria that pose the greatest threat to human health.

Medical research charity the Wellcome Trust said that the list was important to steer research into new antibiotics.

The WHO said the 12 bacteria have built-in abilities to find new ways to resist treatment and can pass along genetic material that allows other bacteria to become drug-resistant as well.

The list categorises bacteria into ‘critical’, ‘high’ and ‘medium’ priority groups, according to the urgency of need for new antibiotics.

The most critical group includes multi-drug resistant bacteria that pose a particular threat in hospitals and nursing homes.

Bacteria has been categorised into priority groups.