Drug resistance could make 3m operations lethal

RESISTANCE to antibiotics could make more than three million operations a year life-threatening.

Public Health England warned that cases of antibiotic resistant blood infections have risen by more than a third in just four years.

Without antibiotics, infections related to surgery could double, putting people at risk of dangerous complications, health officials say.

Figures revealed that there were 16,504 cases where antibiotics, which were previously the most effective treatment, did not work last year.

This is up from 12,250 in 2013, showing cases have risen by 35 per cent.

It could mean common procedures such as caesarean sections and hip replacements could become life-threatening, with England’s chief medical officer Professor Dame Sally Davies warning we are at risk of ‘putting medicine back in the dark ages’.

Antibiotics are often handed out for coughs, sore throats and earaches – which usually get better without drugs.

Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, of the Royal College of GPs, said: ‘We need to get to a stage where antibiotics are not seen as a “catch all” for every illness or a “just in case” back-up option.’