Health
Millions of Lives at Risk from Resistance to Antibiotics
Patients receive treatment at the Chest Disease Hospital in Srinagar, India. The country has one of the highest rates of drug-resistant tuberculosis in the world, in part because antibiotics for the disease are poorly regulated by the government. (Dar Yasin/AP Photo)
NEW DELHI (CBS News) – The World Health Organization has adopted a plan to combat an alarming resistance against antibiotic drugs. It’s an issue health experts warn will threaten millions of lives if not addressed.
India, a country where antibiotics are purchased over the counter, is on the front lines of the problem. In New Delhi, baby Prince, less than a month old, has been in and out of hospitals, and is not responding to multiple antibiotics
“I’ve been very scared,” his mother Anju Davie admitted. “It came as a shock. How is my baby so sick?”
Dr. Nellam Clare, chief neonatologist at Sirgangaram Hospital, says 67 percent of babies referred to her intensive care unit are resistant to multiple antibiotics. She’s prescribing drugs she wouldn’t have imagined using a decade ago.
