Antibiotic resistance due to antibiotic overuse is a serious problem when it comes to treating infections, and in a latest study, India is one of the most serious offenders.

A report made by the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy (CDDEP) found that some infection causing bacteria in other countries, particularly developing countries, are showing signs of resistance against last line antibiotics. This is a severe matter because last line antibiotics are given only when others fail to treat the infections, not to mention that they usually cause more intolerable side effects than first and second line antibiotics. 

"It's a growing problem in the developing world," said Ramanan Laxminarayan, director of CDDEP. "It's going to get a lot worse before it gets better."

CDDEP collated the data from developing countries over the course of several years, recording antibiotic consumption from 69 countries and signs of resistance from 39 of them. 

According to the report, certain bacteria in India are building stronger antibiotic resistance. A strain of Klebsiella pneumonia from India has developed a 57 percent resistance to carbapenems, considered as last line antibiotics. Another bacteria developing carbapenem resistance in the country is E.coli, with strain resistance to it as high as 80 percent.

"India has a perfect storm," says Laxminarayan. "You put all the things together and it's this gigantic petri dish of experimentation that is resulting in highly pathogenic strains."

Ever since the discovery of penicillin, and its use during the 1940s, many have been using antibiotics for most infections, even those that aren't caused by bacteria. The overuse of antibiotics causes some bacteria to develop defenses against the used medicine that will no longer be susceptible to the antibacterial action. 

In order to resolve this growing threat, the CDDEP recommended that hospitals and healthcare prescribers should save antibiotics for infections that really need them, and to keep last lines as a last resort. Clean water, proper sanitation and waste disposal, vaccines and education should be provided to prevent spread of resistant bacteria. Laxminarayan believes that the answer is decreasing antibiotic use. 

"Developing new antibiotics is not going to solve the problem," he said.

"In the absence of antibiotics, resistant bacteria more easily die out," he explained. "In many cases, if we stop overusing antibiotics, resistance will go substantially down." 

Photo: Michael Mortensen | Flickr