The Rise of Antibiotic Resistance: A “Silent Killer”

Antibiotics have been a transformative discovery in medicine, significantly reducing mortality and morbidity from infectious diseases. Before antibiotics, infectious disease was among the leading cause of death. In 1928, Alexander Fleming, a professor of bacteriology, discovered penicillin, the first true antibiotic. However, it took over a decade for penicillin to be introduced as a treatment for bacterial infections. The period from 1940 to 1962 is often referred to as the “golden era” of antibiotics. For many years, antibiotics effectively saved countless lives. Unfortunately, the future of antibiotics is now uncertain due to emergence of drug-resistant bacteria, which pose substantial challenges to human health. These resistance bacteria can cause life-threatening blood infections and complicate the treatment of various common infections. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), an estimated 5.2 million people in the Western Pacific region will die due to drug-resistant bacterial infections. This increase in resistance is attributed to changes in bacteria that render antibiotics less effective. Resistance is rising for both first-line drugs (such as ciprofloxacin, ampicillin, and co-trimoxazole) and second-line treatments (including fluoroquinolones). Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) now kills more people than cancers and road accidents combined. Given this context, antibiotic resistance can be considered a “silent killer.”