Preventing infections from occurring in the first place is one of the best ways to reduce the need to prescribe antibiotics and prevent antimicrobial resistance (AMR). AMR can be developed in bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites that cause infection, making them resistant to treatment. Every infection prevented reduces the need for and use of antimicrobials, which in turn lessens the potential for development of resistance.

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Antibiotics are by far the most widely prescribed antimicrobial agents. Unlike many other drugs used in medicine, the more we use antibiotics the less effective they become against their target organisms. With antibiotics, overuse or inappropriate use allows bacteria to develop resistance which can lead to infections that are increasingly difficult to treat.

 

A failure to address the challenge of antimicrobial resistance could result in:

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• an estimated 10 million deaths every year globally by 2050

• a cost of £66 trillion in lost productivity to the global economy

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