The number of deaths from infections caused by resistant bacteria will increase tenfold by 2050, that's right, tenfold, warns a study published in the Lancet, and that is quoted by Notícias ao minuto.

The data presented by the study are alarming. According to them, superbugs already kill more than AIDS, malaria and lung cancer.

Going to the numbers, research shows that 1.2 million people die each year from superbugs. And scientists estimate that in less than 30 years they will cause the deaths of 10 million people a year, three times the estimated Covid deaths for 2020.

The research is based on data from 204 countries. To date, it is the most comprehensive on the topic. The researchers looked at 23 different pathogens and almost 90 combinations of infections and drugs used to treat them, without success.

The study also says that superbacteria were the third leading cause of death worldwide in 2019, second only to heart disease and stroke. Respiratory infections, such as pneumonia, caused by these bacteria are the biggest "killers," 400,000 deaths per year.

The study reveals that the most affected. The data shows that 20% were under the age of five. In other words, they meet Unicef's figures, which estimate that up to 40% of all deaths in this age group are caused by superbugs.

Of all the microbes tested, six of them - E. coli, S. aureus, K. pneumoniae, S. pneumoniae, A. baumannii, and P. aeruginosa - are responsible for the majority of deaths, about 920,000.

Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia are the two regions most affected, with more than 20 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants. In developed countries, these infections kill, on average, 13 people per 100,000 inhabitants. However, the mortality caused by these microbes could be much lower if there was easier access to medication.

Source NM