Malaria infected 227 million people worldwide in 2019, and killed 558,000 people. This, according to the World Malaria Report published by the World Health Organization. With COVID-19 garnering much attention, the WHO reports that in 2020 Malaria infected 241 million people, and killed 627,000. And, it is a "preventable and curable" disease.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, "An estimated 690,000 people died from AIDS-related illnesses in 2019." These are sobering statistics certainly. Of course, in today's world, these figures are dwarfed by the volume of tragic deaths linked at least in part to SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19. Worldometer notes that COVID deaths are well over 6 million as we enter the third year of our reaction to that challenge. America alone has exceeded one million deaths.
These are staggering numbers. And, they represent only a small portion of worldwide deaths from all causes. The WHO notes that they are nonetheless dwarfed by diseases like heart disease (8.9 million) and stroke (over 6 million). In short, there are a variety of health challenges that we face, systemically, and globally. Gautama Buddha is credited with saying "We begin to die from the moment we are born, for birth is the cause of death." I find little comfort there.
Over the years, medicine has delivered some miraculous advances. In 2019, NBC reported, "It's been almost a century since the discovery of penicillin kicked off the era of antibiotics." That discovery was actually in 1928, according to the National Institute of Health, so we continue to advance toward the centennial of antibiotics. Penicillin is still used, but a raft of antibiotics have joined the ranks over the last 94 years.
Despite that tremendous progress, infections continue to kill with great efficiency. The British Broadcasting Corporation reported in January 2022 that over "1.2 million people died worldwide in 2019 from infections caused by bacteria resistant to antibiotics." Note that is not the total of bacterial deaths, only a subset. The article notes that this exceeds the total from either "malaria or Aids (HIV), whose figures are discussed above. That figure exceeds the American deaths to date from COVID-19. The more basic issue of infection continues to be a challenge.
The allegation is that some portion of the resistant bacteria deaths are attributable to our own hubris in the deployment and use of antibiotics. The author explains that death "from common, previously treatable infections" is largely caused by the evolution of bacteria "becom(ing) resistant to treatment." The bacterial evolves to survive.
There are accusations there regarding over-use, and advocacy for "using current (antibiotics) more wisely." There is also a call for "urgent investment in new drugs" that would perhaps bring a "different approach to combatting these resistant infections." The accusations assert that antibiotic "overuse . . . for trivial infections" has diminished their "effective(ness) against serious infections." And, with that decrease in efficacy, perhaps there are otherwise preventable deaths?
This infection and resistance situation is notable now because of the relationship between COVID-19 and other maladies. The CDC contends that there is interrelationship between COVID and resistance to antibiotics. Many patients suffer from pneumonia in the midst of a SARS-CoV-2 infection, a "COVID pneumonia," which the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute has stated lasts longer than "traditional forms of pneumonia." And, those pneumonia are being treated with antibiotics. This causes "challenges in antibiotic decision-making" according to a February 2022 paper Antibiotic Therapy in the Treatment of COVID-19 Pneumonia: Who and When?
Thus, the BBC raises concerns about the state of our antibiotic arsenal, and "antimicrobial resistance" as a health threat. It contends some officials believe it to be a "'hidden pandemic' that could emerge in the wake of Covid-19 unless antibiotics were prescribed responsibly." Thus, in addition to the threats of Long-COVID, see Long COVID Seminar (April 2022), the SARS-CoV-2 and our reactions to it portend the potential for other long-term medical issues we may face as a society generally.
While one would wish for doctors to use whatever is available if we were personally hospitalized, this is suggestion that discretion and care are perhaps the best course.
