Antibiotic resistance linked to pollution, report says

Addressing sources of environmental pollution, particularly from the pharmaceutical, agricultural, and health-care sectors, is critical to reducing the threat of antimicrobial resistance, a report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) concludes. It warns that if pollution from poor sanitation, sewage, and municipal waste is not curtailed, antimicrobial resistance will cause an additional 10 million deaths by 2050. The report, published Feb. 7, calls for an integrated approach recognizing that the health of people, wildlife, and the environment are closely intertwined. Antimicrobials are becoming less effective against bacterial infections, and superbugs—bacteria resistant to all antibiotics—are on the rise. Warming temperatures, extreme weather events, and land-use changes are all contributing to the spread of antimicrobial resistance, the report says. “The same drivers that cause environment degradation are worsening the antimicrobial resistance problem. The impacts of antimicrobial resistance could destroy our health and food systems,” Inger Andersen, the executive director of UNEP, says in a statement. “Cutting down pollution is a prerequisite for another century of progress towards zero hunger and good health.”