Antibiotics problems may send medicine back to ‘dark ages’

RESISTANCE to antibiotics is putting three million patients at risk from standard surgery, data reveals.

A top medical officer warns without “swift action” medicine may go back to “the dark ages”.

Caesareans, chemo and hip and knee replacements may end up being seen as too risky.

Yet research into antimicro- bial resistance, AMR, faces a “worrying exodus”, according to a Government report.

Public Health England data AMR kills 5,000 in the UK a year but experts argue the true figure is double that.

PHE’s Keep Antibiotics Working campaign shows three million procedures a year need the drugs to prevent infections. It also found antibisuggests otic-resistant blood infections rose 35% from 2013 to 2017.

Prof Dame Sally Davies, chief medical officer for England, said: “Without swift action, we are at risk of putting medicine back in the dark ages.” A study also found 38% of patients expect antibiotics for illnesses that do not need them.