Superbugs growing global problem, conference hears

An all-Ireland meeting on superbugs has heard that the infections are a growing global problem, threatening human as well as animal health.

Anti Microbial Resistance (AMR) is now responsible for around 700,000 deaths around the world each year.

With AMR, the microbes are resistant (not patients) to antibiotics, due to overuse.

Dame Sally Davies, the Chief Medical Officer for England, told the conference that the problem must be treated as seriously as climate change.

She said that if AMR is not tackled, by 2050, it is estimated that it will cause more deaths around the world than cancer.