Diseases becoming resistant to antibiotics

The Chief Medical Officer warned of ‘a dreadful future for our children and grandchildren’ unless global action is taken to prevent diseases from being resistant to antibiotics.

Professor Dame Sally Davies said diseases are evolving faster than the drugs that exist to treat them.

In the second volume of her annual report, she described the problem as a ‘ticking time bomb’ and calls for it to be put on the Government’s National Security Risk Assessment register, alongside terrorism and severe weather.

She said routine operations such as hip replacements or organ donations could pose deadly risks in just 20 years’ time if we lose the ability to fight infection.

Dame Sally has made 17 recommendations to politicians and policymakers including better hygiene in schools, hospitals, care homes and public places.