WHO updates list of drug-resistant bacteria
The World Health Organization (WHO) today released its updated Bacterial Priority Pathogens List (BPPL) 2024, featuring 15 families of antibiotic-resistant bacteria grouped into critical, high and medium categories for prioritization.
AMR occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites no longer respond to medicines, making people sicker and increasing the risk of disease spread, illness and deaths. AMR is driven in large part by the misuse and overuse of antimicrobials.
The critical priority pathogens means gram-negative bacteria resistant to last-resort antibiotics.
High priority pathogens are of particularly high burden in low- and middle-income countries, which pose significant challenges in healthcare settings.
Medium priority pathogens present a high disease burden. These pathogens require increased attention, especially in vulnerable populations including paediatric and elderly populations, particularly in resource-limited settings.
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