Antimicrobial resistance: Causes and impact on public health in developed and developing countries

ABSTRACT

Antibiotic-resistance (AR) has become an alarming issue, posing threats to public health in terms of mortality and economic loss. The drivers of AR include environmental contamination from varied sources, ultimately making its way into our drinking water and food. Other factors include reckless use of antibiotics by the uneducated health workers, unhygienic situation of the hospitals, overconsumption and careless discharge of medicines by the general populace, injudicious use of antibiotics in the livestock, and indiscriminate disposal of untreated pharmaceutical wastes into the municipal water have caused several health hazards, such as “AR in infants,” respiratory disorders, and cancer. Furthermore, the sewage treatment process itself augments the antimicrobial resistance crisis. Hence, it is an alarming issue which must be taken care at the global level as well as the national level.