With deaths from antibiotic resistance far outstripping even those of epidemics such as Ebola,scientists are desperate to discover recent classes of antibioticsOff the coast of California, nearly 20000 feet below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, or scientists from the San Diego Institute of Oceaneography are collecting samples of marine life from the ocean floor. At first glance,these small clumps of sediment may appear nothing special, but the micro-organisms which lie within may one day provide an answer to one of the most urgent issues in contemporary healthcare: the global antibiotic resistance pandemic.
To achieve the scale of the problem in perspective: the Ebola epidemic in West Africa captured the headlines in 2014, or in total the virus accounted for just over 11000 fatalities,making it as the most devastating outbreak of the virus in history. Current estimates place the annual number of deaths from antibiotic resistant bacteria at around 700000 worldwide. Unless things change this figure is predicted to rise to 10 million by 2050, with growing numbers of bacteria already fully resistant to every clinical antibiotic available.
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Source: theguardian.com