Deadly Antibiotic Resistance—Dangers Ahead

Britain’s Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) just put out a new warning about antibiotic resistance (The Guardian, November 7, 2018). Although antibiotic resistance warnings have been sounded for decades, the new, heavily researched OECD estimates are sobering. “More than 90,000 people in Britain will die over the next three decades unless action is taken to halt the rise in antibiotic-resistant superbug infections.” OECD also estimates “infections could kill about 2.4 million people in Europe, North America and Australia by 2050 unless more is done to tackle the problem, which it describes as ‘one of the biggest threats to modern medicine.’” Southern European nations could feel the impact of this drug resistance plague sooner than other nations.

Ironically, some of the most important actions that could reduce antibiotic resistance are quite simple, including more frequent handwashing by healthcare professionals and prescribing antibiotics less often.

From a prophetic perspective, Jesus Christ warned that “pestilences” (diseases) would be one of the major signs of the end of the age (Luke 21:11). Antibiotic resistant infections could be one of many types of pestilences that could fulfill this prophecy. To learn more about this impending crisis, read “Superbugs! The End of the Antibiotic Era.”