Drug-resistant ailments kill 35,000 people a year in Europe, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, which called for the responsible use of antibiotics and antivirals to help fight the rising threat.
The health impact of the phenomenon is comparable to that of influenza, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS combined, the Stockholm-based health agency said on Thursday.
Scientists have sounded the alarm for years on the threat of intractable infections from bugs that have come to resist even the most potent antibiotics. While hospitals and primary-care providers in Europe cut their use of antimicrobials by 23 percent in the past decade, the use of “reserve antibiotics,” which are intended to fight multidrug-resistant infections, has more than doubled.