India battles the threat of antibiotic resistance

Drug-resistant pathogens have increased over the past few years and no longer respond to available antibiotics. A new study in India has noted that infections that were once easily treatable are now more difficult to treat, reports The Pharma Letter’s India correspondent.

As a result of a data analysis conducted between January 1 and December 31, 2021, resistance to imipenem, a drug used to treat infections caused by Escherichia coli, has increased from 14% in 2016 to 36% in 2021. The study showed antibiotic susceptibility was also lower in klebsiella pneumonia and other bacteria.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), which conducted the research, has found severe disease-causing bacteria to be resistant to top class antibiotics in 87.5% of hospitalized patients tested for antimicrobial resistance (AMR).