Superbug threat misunderstood, WHO says

Ramping up its fight against antibiotic resistance with asurvey of public awareness, the United Nations health agencysaid 64 per cent of those asked believed wrongly thatpenicillin-based drugs and other antibiotics can treat colds andflu, despite the fact such medicines have no impact on viruses.

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WHO warns of widespread misunderstanding of superbug threat

"The findings point to the urgent need to improveunderstanding around antibiotic resistance," said Keiji Fukuda,the WHO's special representative for antimicrobial resistance.

Antibiotic resistance happens when bacteria mutate and adaptto become resistant to the antibiotics used to treat theinfections they cause. Over-use and misuse of antibioticsexacerbate the development of drug resistant bacteria, oftencalled superbugs.

"The rise of antibiotic resistance is a global healthcrisis," the WHO's director-general Margaret Chan said in astatement. "It is reaching dangerously high levels in all partsof the world."

Three quarters of respondents think antibiotic resistancemeans the body is resistant to the drugs, for example, whereasin fact it is the bacteria themselves that become resistant toantibiotics and their spread causes hard-to-treat infections.

And nearly half of those surveyed think drug resistance isonly a problem in people who take antibiotics often. In fact,anyone, anywhere, of any age, can get a superbug infection.