What Happens When Antibiotics Don’t Treat Meningitis Anymore?

For many years, antibiotics have been used to treat bacterial meningitis, the deadliest form of the disease. But this year, according to a major UK report [1] followed by a World Health Organization (WHO) resolution, the threat that antibiotics could soon start to fail is upon us. This is because bacteria find new ways to evade antibiotics all the time. The result is that by the time today’s generation of first time parents are becoming first time grandparents, drug-resistant infections including meningitis could kill 10 million people across the world each year. [1] This isn’t just a major threat to global health – it will become the major threat. Antibiotics have had an incredible run. Before they existed nearly all patients with bacterial meningitis died. Today it’s just 10-30 percent. [2] But the bacteria are now starting to win, and the death rate will inevitably rise again. The crop of drugs that delivered such staggering results is old. The bacteria have reinvented themselves faster than we have outwitted them with newer versions. Companies that create the drugs struggle to find ways to sustainably fund their development. And without that happening, everyone has to worry. In an effort to jumpstart and guide the research and development of new antibiotics, WHO has published a list of 12 types of bacteria for which new antibiotics are most urgently needed. Many of the bacteria included in the list compiled by WHO can be causes of bacterial meningi...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - Category: Science Source Type: news