The Dangerous Dozen: 12 Superbugs Identified as Most Dangerous Pathogens on the Planet
Karina Erdelyi
By Nancy WurtzelFor the first time, the World Health Organization (WHO) has identified the 12 most dangerous pathogens in the world, ranking them by severity of drug resistance from medium to critical. The top-three bacteria are gram-negative and resistant to multiple antibiotics.Scientists at WHO are quick to point out the list may expand as more resistance to antibiotics spreads across the world. In fact, any species of bacteria can turn into a “superbug.”Superbug isn’t a medical term. It was coined by the media sometime in the 1970s to describe bacteria that can’t be killed using multiple antibiotics. However, it has become a common description for families of bacteria that build up resistance to and even block antibiotics entirely.“This list is not meant to scare people about new superbugs,” said Marie-Paule Kieny, the WHO’s assistant director-general for health systems and innovation. “It’s intended to signal research and development priorities to address urgent public health threats.”
| Worldwide, an estimated 700,000 people die each year due to antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
In Scientific American magazine, Tim Jinks, head of drug-resistant infections for the British medical charity Wellcome Trust indicated he believes this number will increase exponentially unless new medicines are brought to market that will treat these deadly bacteria infections.“Within a generation, without new antibiotics, deaths from drug-resistant infection could reach 10 million a year,” said Jinks. “Without new medicines to treat deadly infection, lifesaving treatments like chemotherapy and organ transplant, and routine operations like caesareans and hip replacements, will be potentially fatal.”The WHO indicated these dangerous pathogens are of great concern, but those listed as critical are categorized as a grave threat to the health of humans in all areas of the world. Many health experts see these new strains as being just as perilous as the Ebola or Zika viruses.The WHO list of most dangerous superbugs is as follows:Priority 1: Critical1. Acinetobacter baumannii, carbapenem-resistant2. Pseudomonas aeruginosa, carbapenem-resistant3. Enterobacteriaceae, carbapenem-resistant, ESBL-producingPriority 2: High4. Enterococcus faecium, vancomycin-resistant5. Staphylococcus aureus, methicillin-resistant, vancomycin-intermediate and resistant6. Helicobacter pylori, clarithromycin-resistant7. Campylobacter spp., fluoroquinolone-resistant8. Salmonellae, fluoroquinolone-resistant9. Neisseria gonorrhoeae, cephalosporin-resistant, fluoroquinolone-resistantPriority 3: Medium10. Streptococcus pneumoniae, penicillin-non-susceptible11. Haemophilus influenzae, ampicillin-resistant12. Shigella spp., fluoroquinolone-resistantThe WHO listed the top three critical pathogens as being the most urgent as they cause severe infections and high mortality for patients in a hospital setting. Dr. Kieny indicated that while they are not as common as other drug-resistant infections, these first three are, in fact, the most costly in terms the medical resources needed to treat infected patients and in terms of the lives lost.Not included on the list is the bacterium that causes tuberculosis, which is growing and last year killed an estimated 1.8 million people. The WHO did not include it because the need for new antibiotics to treat TB has been designated at the highest priority level, and it already has its own dedicated program.The dozen bacteria featured on the WHO’s priority pathogens list were chosen based on four criteria:
- The level of drug resistance that already exist
- The number of annual deaths they cause
- The frequency with which people become infected outside of hospitals
- Finally, the burden these infections place on health care systems.
The search for new antibiotics is not taking place at a pace that can keep up with the bacteria that is building resistances at an alarming rate. The most recent new class of antibiotics was brought to market in 1987. New antibiotics must be highly effective and affordable, two factors that are difficult to achieve when developing new drugs.Yet, new and even more effective antibiotics must be found – and quickly.Dr. Keiji Fukuda, WHO’s Assistant Director-General for Health Security summed up the importance of finding new and more effective drugs, “Effective antibiotics have been one of the pillars allowing us to live longer, live healthier, and benefit from modern medicine. Unless we take significant actions to improve efforts to prevent infections and also change how we produce, prescribe and use antibiotics, the world will lose more and more of these global public health goods and the implications will be devastating.”