World Health Organization lists deadly bacteria in bid to push antibiotics R&D

Among the ideas proposed by O’Neill is a market-entry reward, in which companies that create a new antibiotic would receive up to $1 billion to recoup research and development costs. These bacteria have built-in abilities to find new ways to resist treatment and can pass along genetic material that allows other bacteria to become drug-resistant as well. Just last month, for instance, a woman in Nevada died of an infection with a so-called CRE, or carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaciae. This is carbapenem-resistant, ESBL-producing strains that can cause serious infections in the lungs, blood, and urine. Vaccines do exist for numerous strains, but getting people vaccinated is another story.

The list involves 12 families of bacteria ranked as critical, such as Pseudomonas and various Enterobacteriaceae including E. coli, as well as high or medium priority for antibacterial research.

Bacteria in the “critical” group include multi-drug resistant bacteria that can withstand the use of antibiotics known as carbapenems, as well as third-generation cephalosporins.

In a press briefing Monday, the United Nations health agency said its list is meant to promote the development of medicines for the most worrying drug-resistant bacteria, including salmonella and Staphylococcus aureus.

The full statement from World Health Organization is below. The highest priority is for bacteria listed in the critical category, including multidrug resistant types that pose a significant threat in hospitals and nursing homes and among patients who require medical devices like ventilators and catheters. Also listed is Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which can be spread on the hands of health-care workers or by equipment that gets contaminated and is not properly cleaned. They can cause deadly infections such as bloodstream infections and pneumonia.

Basically, as the bacteria develop and become more and more well-equipped to deal with our treatments, our list of options grows thinner and thinner.

ATTN: talked to Dr. Brad Spellberg, a professor of clinical medicine at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine and a top researcher and author on antibiotic resistance, about this growing threat.

Drug-resistant bacteria are not really something new, doctors and researchers have been anxious about them for a few good years already. They are resistant to a common antibiotic called vancomycin. It’s a big problem in USA hospitals, where more than 500,000 people contract it every year. According to the World Health Organization, there is a lot of misunderstanding about what antibiotic resistance actually is and what can be done to prevent it, which in turn exacerbates the problem. It’s also growing resistant to vancomycin. Helicobacter pylori, clarithromycin-resistant 4.

The WHO said numerous bacteria have evolved into superbugs that are resistant to antibiotics. Campylobacter spp., fluoroquinolone-resistant 8. This risk is measured based on the resistance the bacteria is having in that particular moment, as well as its current mortality rate and prevalence demonstrated within communities.

Neisseria gonorrhoeae: This is the bacterium responsible for gonorrhea. It remains risky, causing blood infections, meningitis, pneumonia, and epiglottis. It’s resistant to both fluoroquinolone and cephalosporin.

Superbugs are strains of bacteria that have changed (or mutated) after coming into contact with an antibiotic. In the “medium priority” group are drug-resistant versions of Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae and shigella.