Antibiotic Resistance Will Kill One Crore People A Year By 2050

Antibiotics have saved millions of lives, but injudicious use could soon turn them into the single biggest cause of deaths worldwide, killing more people than cancer and diabetes combined

- Mini P. Thomas

For seven-year-old Ranjeev, breakfast is never complete without a tall glass of milk. His mother, Chitra, makes it even more nutritious by adding a spoonful of homemade multigrain powder. “I drink milk in the evening and at night, when I listen to bedtime stories,” says Ranjeev, a class 2 student at National Public School, Bengaluru. Chitra buys milk from a local milkman to ensure its safety, although packaged milk is readily available.

Chitra’s fears are not irrational. Antibiotic residue is present in most packaged milk brands, and also in milk-based products like ghee and butter, says Jubin George Joseph, chief operating officer of the Bengaluru-based Ramaiah Advanced Testing Laboratory. This is largely the result of antibiotics being administered to animals to prevent illnesses and also to fatten them up. World Health Organization estimates say that in some countries approximately 80 per cent of the total consumption of medically important antibiotics is in the animal sector, largely for growth promotion in otherwise healthy animals. “Antibiotics like ciprofloxacin are present in almost everything that we eat,” says Joseph. “Tetracycline and amoxicillin are found in chicken and milk. Some of the shrimp samples we tested had antibiotic residues 300 per cent above the permissible level. We have detected them in honey, drinking water and eggs. Some new generation antibiotics have been detected in pork.” Even fruits and vegetables are not safe. Tests done on samples of greens and curry leaves have shown antibiotic residues. With the presence of antibiotics in virtually everything we consume, the world— especially developing countries like India—is staring at the spectre of antibiotic resistance, which could, in about a decade, be the single biggest cause of deaths worldwide. In fact, antibiotics could soon kill more people than cancer and diabetes together could.