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By: Mary Gillis
Over half a million deaths spanning 35 countries were tied to bacterial antimicrobial resistance (AMR), according to what researchers are calling the most comprehensive AMR burden analysis assessing this particular part of the world. This number has global health officials on edge, considering the growing problem is listed as one of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) top 10 public health threats facing humanity.
The large study, recently published in The Lancet Regional Health–Americas, drew from multiple international sources that provided data from all 35 countries of the WHO Region of the Americas for 23 bacterial pathogens and 88 pathogen-drug combinations.
Deaths Associated With AMR
Analyses revealed bacterial AMR played a role in killing 569,000 people in 2019, representing 11.5 percent of all global AMR-associated deaths. In other words, drug-resistant infections were partly responsible, but there may have been a separate, underlying main cause of death. An additional 141,000 deaths were directly caused by AMR. This number makes up just over 11 percent of all global AMR deaths.
“Given the burden across different countries, infectious syndromes and pathogen–drug combinations, [bacterial] AMR represents a substantial health threat in the Americas,” the study authors wrote. “Evidence from this study can guide mitigation efforts that are tailored to the needs of each country in the region.”
Lower respiratory infections and thorax, bloodstream, and peritoneal/intra-abdominal infections made up the largest bacterial AMR-associated fatal burden in the region. Fatal burden is a term used to describe the burden of dying prematurely as measured by years of life lost.
Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Acinetobacter baumannii were the leading pathogens associated with AMR death. Collectively, these pathogens were responsible for 452,000 of the 569,000 deaths associated with AMR.
Methicillin-resistant S. aureus topped the list in terms of pathogen–drug combination-associated deaths in 34 of 35 countries, and aminopenicillin-resistant E. coli led the combination in 15 of 35.
The Organization of American States (OAS) lists Argentina, Brazil, Columbia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Peru, and the United States as just a few countries that comprise the region.
Regions and Age Groups Most at Risk
Haiti had the lowest proportion of infectious deaths associated with resistant pathogens, while Chile had the highest.
Five countries had incidence rates above 90 deaths per 100,000 person-years. The five ranked from highest to lowest were Haiti, Bolivia, Guatemala, Guyana, and Honduras. Countries with the lowest AMR death rates, defined as fewer than 50 deaths per 100,000 person-years, ranked lowest to highest, were Canada, the United States, Colombia, Cuba, Panama, Costa Rica, Chile, Venezuela, Uruguay, and Jamaica.
According to the study, “Death rates associated with and attributable to AMR followed a generally consistent pattern across countries, with a spike in deaths among neonates followed by near zero rates among 1–4-year-olds.” Trends rising trend increased until people reached 65. After age 65, the upward trend in deaths increased dramatically.
What Are Antimicrobials and Why Do People Become Resistant to Them?
Antimicrobials are medications used to prevent and treat infections and include antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals, and antiparasitics.
Microbes like bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites live on and inside creatures and the environment, from animals to people and from the soil to the air, spreading from creature to creature.
Some are harmless and even necessary, while others pose a threat.
