Superbugs erasing century of medical advances

London, November 18: Experts have revealed that drug-resistant “superbugs” represent one of the gravest threats in the history of medicine.

Doctors have said that the routine operations could become deadly in the very near future as bacteria evolve to resist the drugs people use to combat them and this could erase a century of medical advances, the Independent reported.

According to a special editorial written by government doctors, the new warning reflects growing concern that the NHS and other national health systems are already under pressure from ageing populations and will struggle to cope with the rising cost of caring for people in the “post-antibiotic era”.

England’s chief medical officer, Dame Sally Davies has warned that death rates from bacterial infections might return to those of the early 20th century.

In the article, doctors have said that modern medicines have never face such threat and without antibiotics, treatments from minor surgery to major transplants could become impossible, and health-care costs are likely to spiral  as people will resort to more expensive antibiotics and sustain longer hospital admissions.

The special editorial was published in The Lancet health journal.