The World Health Organization released a list of antibiotic-resistant "priority pathogens" that require new antibiotics.
Here are five key insights:
1. This list represents the first of its kind, laying out 12 bacteria families that present the greatest danger to human health.
2. WHO organized the pathogens based on urgency level for new antibiotics: critical, high and medium priority.
3. The critical category encompasses multidrug resistant bacteria threatening patients in hospitals and nursing homes as well as patients utilizing devices.
4. The "high" and "medium" priority bacteria are becoming increasingly drug resistant.
5. WHO hopes to encourage governments' support for basic science and advanced research and development for new antibiotics.
6. WHO developed the list with Germany-based University of Tübingen's division of infectious diseases. The experts considered bacteria inclusion based on:
• Deadliness of caused infections
• Whether treatment resulted in long hospital stays
• The frequency of resistance to existing antibiotics
• The ease of spread between animals; from animals to humans; and between people
• Preventable options
• Number of remaining treatment options
• New antibiotics already in the R&D
Here is the released list:
Critical
1. Acinetobacter baumannii, carbapenem-resistant
2. Pseudomonas aeruginosa, carbapenem-resistant
3. Enterobacteriaceae, carbapenem-resistant, ESBL-producing
High
1. Enterococcus faecium, vancomycin-resistant
2. Staphylococcus aureus, methicillin-resistant, vancomycin-intermediate and resistant
3. Helicobacter pylori, clarithromycin-resistant
4. Campylobacter spp., fluoroquinolone-resistant
5. Salmonellae, fluoroquinolone-resistant
6. Neisseria gonorrhoeae, cephalosporin-resistant, fluoroquinolone-resistant
Medium
1. Streptococcus pneumoniae, penicillin-non-susceptible
2. Haemophilus influenzae, ampicillin-resistant
3. Shigella spp., fluoroquinolone-resistant
