Drug-resistant infections occur when pathogens change in ways that render antimicrobial drugs ineffective. As a result, the pathogens survive and continue to spread. When infections are treatable with antimicrobials, people can be cured and further spread within the population can be readily contained. This has saved hundreds of millions of lives since wide use of these “miracle drugs” started over 70 years ago. Loss of drug-effectiveness because of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is increasing in both developing and developed countries. If this trend continues unchecked, the world will confront a reality where many infectious diseases have “no cure and no vaccine.”
