Researchers at the University of Sydney has discovered that drugs commonly used to treat common infections in children and babies are losing their effectiveness in various parts of the world, including India, due to alarming rates of antibiotic resistance. The study, which focused on the efficacy of antibiotics recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), found that many of these drugs had less than 50 percent effectiveness in treating childhood infections such as pneumonia, sepsis, and meningitis.
Published in The Lancet Regional Health-Southeast Asia journal, the findings shed light on the urgent need for updated global guidelines on antibiotic use. The researchers emphasized that the regions most severely affected by this issue are Southeast Asia and the Pacific, where thousands of unnecessary deaths in children occur every year as a result of antibiotic resistance.
Analyzing 6,648 bacterial isolates from 11 countries across 86 publications, the study reviewed antibiotic susceptibility for common bacteria causing childhood infections.
Recognizing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as one of the top 10 global public health threats, the WHO has called for immediate action. Each year, an estimated three million cases of sepsis occur globally in newborns, with up to 570,000 deaths. Shockingly, a significant number of these deaths are attributed to the lack of effective antibiotics to combat resistant bacteria.
This study adds to the mounting evidence that common bacteria responsible for sepsis and meningitis in children have developed resistance to prescribed antibiotics. The research underscores the pressing need for updated global antibiotic guidelines that accurately reflect the rapidly evolving rates of AMR. The current WHO guidelines were last published in 2013.
Study senior author Paul Turner, a professor at the University of Oxford, UK, emphasized the significance of the study in identifying the availability issues surrounding effective antibiotics for serious infections in children. He also stressed the ongoing need for high-quality laboratory data to monitor the situation of AMR, enabling timely adjustments to treatment guidelines.
The study highlighted the limited effectiveness of ceftriaxone, a commonly used antibiotic, in treating sepsis or meningitis in newborn babies, with an estimated success rate of only one in three cases. Another antibiotic, gentamicin, was found to be effective in treating fewer than half of all sepsis and meningitis cases in children.
The researchers also revealed that gentamicin, often prescribed alongside aminopenicillins, showed low effectiveness in combating bloodstream infections in babies and children. Study lead author Phoebe Williams from the University of Sydney emphasized the alarming rise of antibiotic resistance and the need for urgent action to prevent needless deaths among children.
Williams stressed the importance of prioritizing funding for research into new antibiotic treatments specifically tailored for children and newborns as the most effective approach to tackling antibiotic resistance in childhood infections. She highlighted the lack of focus on antibiotic clinical trials for children and newborns, resulting in limited treatment options and insufficient data for new treatments.
