Drug-Resistance Worse Threat Than Cancer

Antimicrobial resistance to antibiotics may kill as many as 10 million people a year by 2050—more than cancer—officials say. British Chancellor George Osborne is slated to speak before a panel at an International Monetary Fund meeting in Washington on the issue, The Guardian reports. Besides the cost in terms of lives, Osborne will reportedly say that the economic toll of ignoring the problem could cut gross domestic product globally by 3.5 percent (or $100 billion). “Unless we take global action, antimicrobial resistance will become an even greater threat to mankind than cancer currently is,” he’s scheduled to say. A study review published in 2014 by economist Jim O’Neill predicted that drug-resistance could become the largest cause of death around the globe by 2050 if a new generation of antibiotics isn’t created.