The Rise of the Superbug | Al Jazeera English
Summary
TLDRThis special program investigates the alarming rise of drug-resistant bacteria, or superbugs, which now kill hundreds of thousands annually and could reach 10 million deaths a year by 2050. It explores the causes, from overuse in human medicine and livestock farming to poor sanitation in developing countries, and the urgent need for global action. Innovative solutions like whole genome sequencing and new diagnostic tools are highlighted, alongside the challenges of developing new antibiotics in the face of a broken market.
Takeaways
- π The rise of superbugs is a global problem, affecting both human and animal health, with untreatable diseases becoming more prevalent.
- π Antibiotic resistance is a significant issue in India, where multidrug-resistant cases are common and sanitation challenges contribute to the spread of diseases.
- π₯ Inadequate training and qualifications of health providers can exacerbate drug resistance, as incomplete prescriptions can lead to ineffective treatments.
- π Antibiotics are extensively used in animal farming, particularly in Kenya, where they are part of the daily diet for chickens, leading to increased resistance in animal populations.
- π¬ The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute is leading research in whole genome sequencing to understand how superbugs evolve and spread, which could help in tracking diseases in real-time.
- π± The development of new antibiotics is crucial, but the process is slow and expensive, with the last antibiotic being introduced nearly 30 years ago.
- π Pharmaceutical companies are hesitant to invest in new antibiotic research due to the high costs and slow returns, necessitating incentives and global cooperation.
- π₯ Hospitals are implementing measures to identify and isolate drug-resistant bacteria to prevent the spread of infections, but rapid diagnostics are needed to improve treatment.
- π³ Researchers are exploring natural environments to discover new microorganisms that could lead to the development of new antibiotics, addressing the limited diversity in lab settings.
- π° A proposed fund of up to three billion dollars could incentivize pharmaceutical companies to develop new antibiotics, addressing the lack of new drugs in the market.
Q & A
What is the current global impact of superbugs in terms of mortality?
-Superbugs are currently killing more than a hundred thousand, perhaps as many as a quarter of a million people around the world each year.
What could be the potential increase in deaths caused by superbugs by 2050 without action?
-The number of deaths could grow to as many as 10 million a year by 2050.
What is the economic impact of superbugs projected to be over the next thirty-five years?
-Superbugs are expected to cost the world's economies around a hundred trillion dollars over the next thirty-five years.
What is the situation of drug resistance in India, particularly in New Delhi?
-In New Delhi, most cases seen in clinics are drug-resistant, and multidrug-resistant cases are common, posing a significant challenge for adults to get the right medical treatment.
How does the misuse of antibiotics contribute to drug resistance in tuberculosis?
-Unqualified health providers often write incomplete prescriptions, which can lead to patients not taking the full course of antibiotics, allowing bacteria to mutate and develop resistance.
What role does sanitation play in the spread of drug-resistant diseases in communities?
-Sanitation is a daily challenge in many communities, and poor sanitation can lead to the spread of drug-resistant illnesses through contaminated water and waste.
How are superbugs affecting animal health in the United States?
-In the United States, 80% of the antibiotics sold each year are fed to animals, leading to an increase in superbugs in animal populations and a potential risk of spreading to humans.
What is the current state of antibiotic resistance in developing countries according to the International Livestock Research Institute?
-Scientists at the International Livestock Research Institute have detected a rapid increase in bacterial resistance in developing countries, which is a significant problem affecting public health and livestock health.
What is the process of whole genome sequencing and why is it important in understanding superbugs?
-Whole genome sequencing involves analyzing the entire DNA of a bacterium. It helps researchers understand how closely related different strains are and track how diseases spread, which is crucial in combating the spread of superbugs.
What are some of the challenges in developing new antibiotics?
-Developing new antibiotics is challenging due to the high cost and slow process involved. Additionally, major pharmaceutical companies have largely exhausted the easily cultivable microorganisms in lab settings, limiting the diversity of potential new antibiotics.
What is the proposed solution to incentivize pharmaceutical companies to develop new antibiotics?
-A fund that could payout up to three billion dollars to large pharmaceutical companies that develop new antibiotics has been suggested. This would help mitigate the downside risks for the pharmaceutical industry.
Outlines
π Global Impact of Superbugs
This paragraph introduces the global issue of drug-resistant bacteria, or superbugs, which are causing a significant rise in untreatable diseases, particularly highlighting the situation in India and Kenya. The script discusses the alarming statistics of superbug-related deaths and the potential economic impact. It also mentions a clinic in New Delhi where a young child has battled drug-resistant typhoid, illustrating the real-life implications of this health crisis. The paragraph sets the stage for a deeper exploration of the causes and consequences of antibiotic resistance.
π Antibiotic Use in Animal Farming
The second paragraph delves into the role of antibiotic use in animal farming, especially in Kenya, and its contribution to the rise of superbugs. It describes how antibiotics are integrated into the daily diet of animals, leading to the development of resistant bacteria strains. The script also touches upon the potential for these superbugs to spread to humans through the food chain, emphasizing the interconnectedness of animal and human health. The paragraph underscores the urgency of addressing antibiotic overuse in agriculture to prevent further escalation of the problem.
𧬠The Science of Superbug Resistance
This paragraph focuses on the scientific aspect of superbug resistance, discussing the process of whole genome sequencing and its importance in understanding the evolution and spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. It details how researchers at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute are using this technology to track and analyze superbugs, including the identification of a healthcare worker who inadvertently reintroduced a resistant strain into a hospital. The summary also touches on the challenges of developing new drugs to combat these resistant strains, given the high costs and slow pace of pharmaceutical research and development.
π οΈ Innovations in Antibiotic Resistance Testing
The fourth paragraph introduces the viewer to the practical challenges and innovations in testing for antibiotic resistance. It describes the process of antimicrobial sensitivity testing in a lab, using methods such as the disc diffusion test and the e-test to determine the effectiveness of different antibiotics against bacteria. The script also discusses the need for rapid diagnostics to improve the appropriate use of antibiotics and reduce the development of resistance. The paragraph highlights the importance of accurate and quick testing in the fight against superbugs.
πΏ Exploring New Antibiotic Sources
The final paragraph discusses the challenges and potential solutions in discovering new antibiotics to combat resistant bacteria. It mentions the difficulty of cultivating microorganisms from nature in a lab setting and introduces a new device, the AI chip, which aims to isolate and grow these microorganisms in a more natural environment. The script also addresses the economic barriers to antibiotic development and suggests a global fund to incentivize pharmaceutical companies to invest in new antibiotic research. The paragraph concludes with a call for better diagnostics, reduced antibiotic use in agriculture, and global education on the responsible use of antibiotics.
Mindmap
Keywords
π‘Superbugs
π‘Antibiotic Resistance
π‘Multidrug-Resistant
π‘Sanitation
π‘Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)
π‘Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis
π‘Antibiotics in Livestock
π‘Whole Genome Sequencing
π‘Rapid Diagnostics
π‘Insecticide Resistance
π‘New Antibiotics
Highlights
Superbugs are responsible for over 100,000 deaths annually, with a potential to increase to 10 million deaths per year by 2050 without action.
Antibiotic resistance could cost the global economy up to 100 trillion dollars over the next 35 years.
In New Delhi, India, most cases of typhoid are now multidrug-resistant, posing a significant challenge for medical treatment.
Unqualified health providers contributing to drug resistance by issuing incomplete prescriptions.
Poor sanitation in communities can lead to the spread of drug-resistant illnesses.
The misuse of antibiotics in animal farming, particularly in Kenya, is contributing to the rise of superbugs.
80% of antibiotics sold in the United States are used in animal farming, leading to increased superbug infections in animals.
Scientists warn that common infections that are currently easily treated could become untreatable and fatal in the future.
The International Livestock Research Institute has detected a rapid increase in bacterial resistance in developing countries.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global threat to public health, requiring immediate action.
England's chief medical officer, Dr. Sally Davies, compares the threat of AMR to terrorism in terms of potential deaths.
Overprescribing of antibiotics by doctors and patient demand contribute to the development of drug resistance.
The developing world is at higher risk due to weaker health systems and over-the-counter availability of antibiotics.
The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute uses whole genome sequencing to understand how superbugs evolve and spread.
New diagnostic tools are being developed to quickly and accurately identify the right drugs to fight bacterial infections.
The lack of new antibiotics in the market is a significant concern, with the last one introduced almost 30 years ago.
A proposed 3 billion dollar incentive by economist Jim O'Neill aims to encourage pharmaceutical companies to develop new antibiotics.
The development of the AI chip by Dr. Slava Epstein's team allows for the growth of microorganisms in a more natural setting, potentially leading to new antibiotics.
A combination of better diagnostics, reduced antibiotic use in animal farming, and global education campaigns are suggested to combat the superbug threat.
Transcripts
in this special program we track the
rise of the super bug from a growing
caseload of untreatable diseases in
India to Kenya's chicken farms where
antibiotics are part of the daily diet
and the problem inside the lab in the UK
with the DNA of superbugs a sequence
then tracked
we take a look at a tiny device
developed in the u.s. that could save
millions of lives
hello and welcome to the special program
looking at the growing global problem of
drug-resistant bacteria or superbugs
today superbugs killed more than a
hundred thousand perhaps as many as
quarter of a million people around the
world each year and that figure without
action could grow to as many as 10
million a year by 2015
that's more than a killed by cancer in a
recent survey done for the UK government
that's expected to cost the world's
economies around a hundred trillion
dollars over the next thirty five years
well in a moment we'll look at how that
drug resistance develops in bacteria and
why the drugs don't work but first Nidhi
Dutt visits a clinic and the outskirts
of the Indian capital New Delhi where
this global health threat is playing out
he's just 14 months old but for months
Aaron Shibu has been ill he had typhoid
and first saw doctor knee total var in
January it took two courses of treatment
but now finally he has the all-clear
since the time you know if we have
started our services almost most of the
cases that we have had our
drug-resistant cases most of them almost
all almost all of them have been
multidrug-resistant so it is a problem
for adults to getting the right medical
treatment is a growing challenge of them
because the media comes out that I mean
Carnival McCutchen I had a fever for a
long time and I couldn't eat I took lots
of medicine my neighbor even took me to
get an x-ray the doctor has an IV I got
medicines from one doctor and then
another and then another when the first
treatment didn't work I went to another
for help but then the second doctors
treatment didn't help either
kaypea it was only when she visited a
clinic close to her home that Manorama
was found to have drug-resistant
tuberculosis dr. Shelley Batra has spent
the last 20 years treating difficult TB
cases and says more and more drugs are
becoming ineffective against the disease
she partly blames unqualified health
providers they are informal providers
all around some of them are not
qualified to write a prescription so
when they write incomplete prescriptions
that is one way patients dead drug
resistance so training and upgrading the
skills of informal providers is very
much required if we want to prevent
these disease
once a drug-resistant strain of bacteria
like typhoid takes hold it is passed on
to others in a community through
contaminated water and waste sanitation
is a daily challenge for people in
communities like this and drug-resistant
illnesses are a growing threat where the
government has failed to fix the problem
at its source health workers have tried
to compensate by treating the spread of
illnesses with a host of medicines while
ad hoc treatment has done little to
contain harmful bacteria it's raised
important questions about the capacity
of India's healthcare system to deal
with diseases that affect millions of
people drug resistance is not just going
to lead to a huge number of deaths
millions of people are going to die due
to causes that could have been treated
doctors around the world have long been
aware of the potential threat of drug
resistance but now with the number of
cases on the rise that threat is real
they back calls for global action to
help stop superbugs and hope it will be
enough and won't come too late to
protect the health of the next
generation
when a patient arrives at a hospital
like General Hospital here in Qatar and
doctors suspect that they have an
illness which is drug-resistant all
samples are brought to a laboratory like
this one it's here that samples are
tested against a variety of antibiotics
to see if indeed they are drug-resistant
to enter see which antibiotic is the
most effective overseeing the lab is dr.
ibrahim how do you go about testing
these antibiotics yes we have here a
very highly quality scheme on program
for identification and performing
antimicrobial sensitivity testing this
is a disc which is impregnated with
antimicrobial and we look for the zone
of inhibition so essentially on this
petri dish you have a bacteria living
living bacteria and then these spots
away you put antibiotics exactly and you
can see which ones have killed the
bacteria very much in less effect
exactly we have a test here called the e
test this is a more precise test it tell
us how far is sensitive or poor far is
resistant
we've seen the impact superbugs have on
human health but an animal health it's
also a massive issue in the United
States 80% of the antibiotics sold each
year a fed to animals one survey
suggested 63,000 tons of antibiotics are
fed to chickens pigs and cattle each
year as a result superbugs are
increasing in animal populations and
whether the risk it will spread to human
populations it's a term that's been seen
in the developing world as well where
meat demand is growing fast
Malcolm Webb visited a chicken farm on
the outskirts of Nairobi in Kenya where
antibiotics are part of the daily diet
business is booming for Daniel karaoke
his chicken farms near Kenya's capital
Nairobi and key to his success are
antibiotics he puts them in their
drinking water every day but the
bacteria often become tough and
resistant and so then he changes to
another drug their claims that that
disease become persistent you'll find
that you have given the treatment as
required but maybe 50% of the bugs have
not been cured so what happens you have
to change the type of using because that
means it's not effective can I get
across the chicken and just a few
kilometers away in the city right let's
make it a half ticket in jail it's
takeaways like this where the chickens
end up everyday all across the
developing world more and more people
are eating food like this and not only
chicken but also all other kinds of meat
and animal products growing populations
mean there's more mouths to feed
and growing economies mean more and more
people can afford food like this in the
developed world most countries have
already reached their maximum meat
consumption but in the world's giants
emerging economies like China and Brazil
it's been growing for decades and it's
expected to grow for decades to come and
more meat means more antibiotics that
means more bacteria will become
resistant scientists say common
infections that are easily treated now
in the future will become untreatable
and fatal and not just in animals but in
people too
here at the headquarters of the
International Livestock Research
Institute scientists say they've
detected a rapid increase in bacterial
resistance in developing countries
biologist Timothy Robinson just
published a paper on it we're just
starting now to gather the magnitude of
the problem of antimicrobial resistance
developing and it's a problem that
affects absolutely everybody in the
world everybody is dependent on anti
microbials
for their public health and and for
their livestock's healthy as well and so
it's a massive problem that's just going
to get worse and worse unless we start
to deal with it now
food farmers like Daniel can't really
deal with this massive problem by
themselves keeping his chickens healthy
using antibiotics is what keeps his
family fed and his children in school in
developed countries farmers now use less
of the drugs because of regulation and
public pressure but farmers in the
developing world are going to need help
to do the same
let's take a look now at how drug
resistance develops take a bacteria like
e-coli we will have a coli in our gut
but some strains of it can cause
diarrhea contain it even death now
traditionally you would have treated
that with penicillin one of the first
antibiotics discovered thing is
penicillin causes that cell membranes to
rupture job done now the problem arises
when patients don't take the full course
of their antibiotics and Pepsi and Eve
antibiotics are of poor quality
this gives the bacteria the chance to
mutate and develop resistance to the
drug if this happens the drugs don't
work and the drug-resistant strain of
bacteria can fast become dominant last
year the World Health Organization said
that antimicrobial resistance has
reached all parts of the globe it's a
threat to public health everywhere and
action is required well one of those
also calling for action is dr. Sally
Davies she's England's chief medical
officer now sally you've described a
threat of antimicrobial resistance as
being as real as terrorism why did you
say that well if you think about it
terrorists aim to kill people but
actually don't kill very many whereas
AMR that's the bugs aiming to live and
as a result when they infect people they
kill the people and they're having great
success look at the data in Europe about
twenty five thousand deaths a year at a
conservative estimate that's more than
road traffic accidents it's just edging
ahead similar sorts of numbers in the
states but I think it's over in the far
east that it's even more worrying when
you hear about one child under the age
of five dying every five minutes of AMR
that is to say of infections that we
cannot treat with our present
antibiotics because the bacteria have
grown wise to the antibiotics and are
not killed by them
it's been reported that half the
antibiotics prescribed in the US and
2010 were unnecessary they weren't
actually necessary for the patient
surely doctors need to take some
responsibility for prescribing these
it's very difficult at the time of
prescribing to know what is necessary
and what isn't
we don't have rapid Diagnostics and
that's where in fact quick whole genome
scanning might help but we need rapid
Diagnostics until we have them what we
know is people think the patient has an
infection the patient thinks they have
an infection so you have to use
antibiotics blind
that is to say informed guesswork until
you have the results of cultures and
then you get bad behavior by patients
and clinical staff where the patient
says I've got a sore throat I must have
antibiotics it always goes to my chest
I must have antibiotics and the doctor
hasn't got the time or the energy to
debate this argue it and doesn't want to
take the miniscule risk that it might
not be viral and gives in I can
understand all sides but there is far
too much use of antibiotics if you look
at prescribing in Britain it's the same
in the States so I guess it is all over
the world you can see that some areas
prescribe double the number of
antibiotics as other areas so there must
be over prescribing we've seen how
devastating the effects of drug
resistance can be in a place like India
poor communities do you think this poses
more of a threat to the underdeveloped
world and countries without strong
health systems I am very worried about
the developing world if you look at the
work and the modeling that has been done
for the prime minister's independent
review on antimicrobial resistance led
by The Economist Jim O'Neill you can see
that they reckon that if we don't turn
the tide on this in 2050 there will be
10 million deaths here more than we have
dying at the moment of cancer every year
and that that will be predominantly in
the developing world
india-china they will all suffer and it
is to do with impart their health
systems as you develop health systems
you can have stronger mechanisms for
ensuring that the drugs are good quality
drugs that they're only used when
prescribed that they're backed up by
laboratory diagnosis and that they are
taken for a full course many people in
the developed world will do that but in
the developing world they'll go and buy
some drugs over-the-counter perhaps by
one day's amount and then if they feel
better they stop other people will buy a
handful and they'll share them out
around the family and that's assuming
they're good drugs rather than
counterfeit or falsified which adds to
the problem we'll hear more from dr.
Sally Davies in a moment but first let's
take a look at some of the work being
done to better understand how superbugs
evolve and how they spread around the
world the Wellcome Trust Sanger
Institute near Cambridge is a world
leader at this and showed Nadine barber
some of us recent research you might not
realize it but you're looking at a
medical revolution when it comes to
diseases researchers here at the
Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute aren't
just interested in what strain of a
bacterium is the cause they want to know
the entire DNA of the bug
they call it whole genome sequencing and
these machines are at the heart of it
they may look like high-tech
refrigerators but these sequences are at
the heart of the science that
researchers hope will one day allow them
to track diseases around the world in
real-time Julianne Parkhill heads a team
that's developing ways of tracking a
whole range of so-called superbugs which
had become resistant to antibiotics he
likens the approach to creating a family
tree of the bacteria so if I take the
bacterium from you and a bacterium from
me and I take the whole genome sequence
of both of them I can say how closely
related they are how long ago they
shared a common ancestor and therefore
how likely it is that you gave that back
here
me or I gave it to you last year when
scientists here were analyzing a
previous outbreak of the Mrs a bug in a
local hospital
medics called to say a baby on a ward
now had the infection so we put them in
a sequence we put the DNA from this
organism to ready on the signaling
machines and we identified that it was
part of that outbreak there had been a a
gap two months with no babies on the
ward having M RSA since the outbreak
that we were studying for
retrospectively and that gap meant that
that it couldn't be continuous
transmission between babies on the ward
and therefore there was likely to be the
involvement of health care worker in
reintroducing that strain into the ward
soon thanks to blood samples from all
the hospital staff they identified the
worker who'd reinfected the baby unit
that person was quickly treated and the
outbreak was contained in another part
of the Sanger Institute they're working
on a mass killer malaria they send the
samples here which have been extracted
which been taken from a patient's arm
blood that's been taken from infected
blood researchers are busy analyzing how
the Plasmodium parasites that caused the
illness in humans are becoming resistant
to anti-malarial drugs but they're also
trying to discover how the mosquitoes
which spread the parasites in the first
place become resistant to insecticides
to control malaria you won't do two
things you want to get rid of the
parasites in people who've got parasites
particularly if they're ill and you want
to stop the mosquitos transmitting
malaria and there are various strategies
for doing that such as getting people to
sleep under insecticide treated bed nets
we have to be concerned both about
whether we've got effective treatment
parasites and whether the bugs are
resistant to that equally we have to
have effective insecticides to get rid
of the mosquitoes and we are worried
about insecticide resistance in the
mosquitoes malaria affects hundreds of
millions of people every year and it's a
major cause of death among children in
parts of Africa experts are worried that
resistance to the frontline treatment
artemisinin
which has been increasing in Southeast
Asia could be repeated in sub-saharan
nations the death rate are from malaria
is very high or
despite the availability of effective
drugs it's already high so if the drugs
are not working and there is no
replacement drug handy then it's going
to be a disaster but that disaster need
never happened as long as the world can
share the lessons from the genetic
mutations that they're finding out about
here
one issue that experts say is
compounding the problem is we're not
coming up with enough new drugs in fact
the last antibiotic to come to market
was almost 30 years ago it's simply too
expensive and too slow for the major
pharmaceutical companies to make the
investment that that may be about to
change from San Francisco
Jake Ward takes a look at some of the
research being done to develop new drugs
in the United States I'm gonna grab your
temperature the United States has a bug
problem multi drug-resistant bacteria
superbugs that have learned to shrug off
the antibiotics we normally use to kill
them
plague the health system here according
to the Centers for Disease Control these
bugs infect two million people a year in
the United States twenty-three thousand
of them die in our society people move
between the skilled nursing facilities
and their outpatient care doctors and
the acute care and around and around and
so these organisms can get spread these
organisms can live on the skin and they
can live on the surfaces of a desk or a
bed or a stethoscope the frontline
solution is cleanliness constantly
washing hands and Hospital facilities
but also isolating infected patients at
one of Chicago's largest hospitals dr.
William trick is trying to automate a
process of identifying the bacteria
patients carry and quickly communicating
that information to the entire
healthcare system we can then tell the
hospital this is a patient known to have
this highly resistant bacteria and they
can immediately and appropriately put
them on the right precautions to prevent
spread to other patient
the trouble is that it takes days to
identify specifics about the resistant
bacteria dr. Lee Riley has just received
a multi-million dollar grant to develop
a process that would identify the right
drugs to fight bacteria in minutes if
you can determine what the drug
susceptibility that organisms before the
patient leaves your office then you can
give the right drug and then you don't
have to worry about creating drug
resistance but dr. Riley says that in
many cases maybe even in most cases we
are not infected in the hospital instead
the bacteria enters our bloodstream
during our day to day lives we think
that these infections are probably
acquired through contaminated food
products being exposed to a variety of
food products that may be contaminated
with bacteria agents that the carry drug
resistance genes here in the US and
around the world companies simply are
not making new antibiotics it's just too
expensive and too hard in part that's
because they've pretty much tapped out
the microorganisms that can be easily
cultivated in a lab setting the truth is
that there are enough microorganisms in
this handful of dirt to pursue countless
lines of new possible antibiotics but
it's only out here in nature that those
microorganisms will thrive as a result
researchers are limited to the tiny
number of microorganisms that grow in a
petri dish microbiologist Slava Epstein
realized this was a major problem for
researchers that gap is humongous
which means a very large amount of
microbial diversity on the planet is
just not accessible so this is the
entire diversity on the planet these dot
the red one is how much of that we have
cultivated Epstein's team developed a
device the AI chip that can isolate
cells in dirt to let them grow the way
they do in nature it lets nature
provides the necessary component for
growth and then the cell growth in form
a colony and once it forms a colony we
can explore this colony on its ability
to producing UNG bear
the hope is that a new crop of
antibiotics used on bacteria that have
been quickly and specifically identified
could slow deadly infections around the
world infections that our food and our
hospitals seem to have helped create in
my report prepared for the UK government
suggested the creation of the fund that
could payout up to three billion dollars
to large pharmaceutical companies that
develop new antibiotics economists Jim
O'Neill was the author of that report
takes the downside risks away for the
pharmaceutical industry to undertake
these kind of risks which from a world
I've lived in of risk versus reward
I would have thought that seemed like a
pretty important attraction we're
pursuing lots of other important paths
and in particular wonder in my growing
judgement is perhaps the most important
which is the demand side of the problem
and we all stop wanting to use
antibiotics as though they're Suites and
put pressure on our food companies to
stop using them for feeding animals so
better Diagnostics less if not no use of
antibiotics for fattening up animals and
probably a major education campaign
specific to different parts of the world
to just let people know that just taking
antibiotics isn't necessarily a good
thing to do well I want to come back now
to dr. Sally Davies England's chief
medical officer do you think a three
billion dollar incentive is enough to
get the interest of pharmaceutical
companies well I don't know whether that
is absolutely the answer Jim O'Neill
who's been asked to do this work as an
independent economist is going round
with his views discussing with
governments to try and get a global view
because if that's the right answer and
it may well be then we've got to get a
lot of governments subscribing to it but
what I do know is the present systems
broke no new antibiotics marketed that
would discovered
after 1987 we have passed the golden age
and it's a very difficult area it's
difficult science and the world has
disinvested in the scientists who do
that sort of work
so either Jim O'Neal's solution or
another I don't mind as long as we get
the solution move forward to start
developing and then delivering new drugs
that's all we have time for in this
special program there's plenty more on
superbugs and what's being done to
address the global threat on our website
at aljazeera.com thanks for watching
goodbye
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