1. Patients who have infections caused by drug-resistant bacteria generally have an increased risk of worse clinical outcomes compared with those with bacteria that are not resistant. Increased healthcare resources are also required. 

Antibiotics have significantly reduced deaths from common infections. For example, fewer than one in 100 young and otherwise healthy people now die from community-acquired pneumonia and skin infections. Before antibiotics were discovered, this figure was 10 in 100 people. If we lose our antibiotics, we risk going back to the era of the 1930s, when infections we now regard as trivial were fatal. An infected cut could be life threatening and an illness like pneumonia would again become a mass killer. A recent review has highlighted the fact that if we don’t tackle drug resistant infections now, they could kill an extra 10 million people across the world each year by 2050.

2. There is a lack of new classes of antibiotics, as no new ones have been discovered for the last 30 years. It is worth remembering that even if new classes of antibiotics are discovered to tackle current levels of resistance, simply replacing old antibiotics with new ones is not the only answer. New antibiotics could also become ineffective if we do not learn how to use them judiciously.

3. Antibiotic resistance is not just an issue of the future – it is already having a significant impact. It is estimated that 25,000 people die every year in Europe because of infections caused by microorganisms resistant to antimicrobials, and in the USA this figure is 23,000 people annually.

4. Many medical treatments rely on us having effective antibiotics. Chemotherapy as a procedure destroys the body’s white blood cells, which are required to tackle infection, should it occur. Without effective antibiotics, chemotherapy will become increasingly dangerous.

Similarly, transplant patients receive drugs that intentionally suppress their immune systems to ensure their bodies don’t reject their new organs. This makes them more prone to bacterial infections that require treatment with antibiotics. Without effective antibiotics, transplants would become even more risky or impossible.

Complex surgeries such as bypass operations or joint replacements carry an increased risk of infection. Without effective antibiotics, procedures designed to help people and ease suffering could actually lead to many more deaths caused by bacterial infections that cannot be treated. 

5. Antibiotic resistance is not just a public or global health issue – it also poses a real threat to every individual. A meta-analysis carried out in 2013 found that risk of resistance persists for at least 12 months in individuals after each intake of an antibiotic.