Royal Society Report - UK In Danger Of Returning To Pre-Antibiotic Age In Face Of Superbugs

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Sir David Read, its vice-president, said: "Much of the debate on superbugs has focused on cleaning hospitals. This is important, but it will not deal with the fact that MRSA and other infections are increasingly resistant to the medicines we have come to rely on to treat them. "We must make sure that the investment is in place to deliver the next generation of antibiotics."

The report was based on an international symposium organised by the Royal Society to examine areas of research that could lead to new treatments. It warned: "We are in danger of returning to a 'pre-antibiotic era', with bacterial diseases becoming more difficult and expensive to treat."

The incidence of resistance to antibiotics is increasing both in hospitals, where staff are constantly struggling against the spread of MRSA and Clostridium difficile, and in the community, with bacteria such as streptococcus pneumoniae, haemophilus influenzae and mycobacterium tuberculosis a growing problem. Many are now resistant to a number of different drugs.

The report said barriers to the development of new treatments included pharmaceutical firms' unwillingness to invest, because such drugs were undervalued and underpriced – so producing less profit. It said: "The pharmaceutical sector is experiencing significant economic problems at the moment, so there are few new drugs currently in development that will impact on future sales, and hence profit."

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http://news.scotsman.com/latestnews/Deadly-threat-as-world-heads.4273527.jp