Abstract, confusing and difficult to pronounce: why we need to rename antimicrobial resistance

As MP Julian Sturdy recently noted in his cross-party letter to the UK Prime Minister, antimicrobial resistance is not only a problem that is potentially exacerbated by COVID-19 – it has the potential to be an even bigger threat than coronavirus. Yet this public health emergency remains stubbornly under the radar compared to other diseases. Could something as simple as renaming it resolve the issue?

It is no coincidence that antimicrobial resistance has been called a “silent tsunami”. There is no question that drug-resistant infections pose an existential threat to humanity, yet the problem fails to attract the international attention it so urgently requires. Few physicians and even fewer lay people have a full understanding of what antimicrobial resistance means, and the media continue to sideline the topic, even when reporting on related health threats such as sepsis.