Antimicrobial resistance is like climate change in many ways: we are victims of our own success, the science is complicated but compelling, the international politics are fraught with fairness, there is a sense of helplessness, but importantly we can and must do something about it, starting now.
Sally C. Davies focused her first in-depth report on infectious diseases and the findings were simple: we are losing the battle against infectious diseases.
We have taken antibacterial and other antimicrobial drugs for granted for too long. But the power of these drugs may be coming to an end. We have misused them through overuse and false prescription, and as a result the bugs are growing in resistance and fighting back.
This is not a distant threat: already, resistant bugs are killing 25.000 people a year across Europe. That is almost the same number as die in road traffic accidents.
The intention in this book is to draw attention to this potentially devastating story.
Professor Dame Sally C. Davies is the Chief Medical Officer for England and the first woman to hold the post. As CMO she is the independent advisor to the Government on medical matters with particular interest in Public Health and Research. She developed the National Institute for Health Research in 2006. She is an Emeritus Professor at Imperial College.
Antimicrobial resistance is like climate change in many ways: we are victims of our own success, the science is complicated but compelling, the international politics are fraught with fairness, there is a sense of helplessness, but importantly we can and must do something about it, starting now.
Sally C. Davies focused her first in-depth report on infectious diseases and the findings were simple: we are losing the battle against infectious diseases.
We have taken antibacterial and other antimicrobial drugs for granted for too long. But the power of these drugs may be coming to an end. We have misused them through overuse and false prescription, and as a result the bugs are growing in resistance and fighting back.
This is not a distant threat: already, resistant bugs are killing 25.000 people a year across Europe. That is almost the same number as die in road traffic accidents.
The intention in this book is to draw attention to this potentially devastating story.
Professor Dame Sally C. Davies is the Chief Medical Officer for England and the first woman to hold the post. As CMO she is the independent advisor to the Government on medical matters with particular interest in Public Health and Research. She developed the National Institute for Health Research in 2006. She is an Emeritus Professor at Imperial College.
