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Reducing pollution from the pharmaceutical and agricultural sectors is essential to combat the proliferation of drug-resistant superbugs, which could kill 10 million people a year by 2050, the UN warned on Tuesday.
“There is growing evidence that the environment plays a key role in development, transmission and spread” of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), underlines the UN-Environment in a report.
This resistance occurs when microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, parasites or fungi become resistant to antimicrobial treatments to which they were previously susceptible.
By 2050, up to 10 million additional deaths
Antibiotic resistance is considered a threat by the World Health Organization (WHO), which fears the world is heading towards an era in which common infections can start killing people again.
An estimated 1.27 million deaths were directly attributed to drug-resistant infections in 2019, according to the UN. By 2050, up to 10 million additional direct deaths could occur each year.
“A silent pandemic”
This resistance is encouraged by the misuse of antibiotics, but the UN highlights other factors less frequently put forward: it is “closely linked to the triple planetary crisis of climate change, loss of biodiversity and nature, and pollution and waste“.
Pollution, linked in particular to the pharmaceutical industry and agriculture, in fact allows antimicrobials to enter the environment, starting with rivers.
“It’s a real problem, because rivers are often the source of our drinking water”explained to AFP the microbiologist Jonathan Cox, of the British university of Aston, who did not take part in the report of the UN.
“This is already a silent pandemic”he pointed out.
Solutions to be adopted by the most polluting sectors
The UN, for its part, is advancing a set of solutions, targeted at the sectors that contribute to the problem.
Thus, the pharmaceutical industry is invited to “ensure adequate containment and treatment of waste and wastewater“, with a general strengthening of the regulatory framework.
Hospitals should also install specific wastewater treatment systems and guarantee the disposal of drugs, experts recommend.
In agriculture, for example, it is suggested to “reassessing the limits of antimicrobials” And “reduce rejectsto protect waterways.