SAN ANTONIO — After going through something like the coronavirus pandemic, many people may be wondering what the next devastating disease will be. In tonight's Verify we look into one claim about what we could expect in the future with these nasty illnesses.
COVID was bad enough, but what if another disease develops that could threaten the lives of many more people than had died during the pandemic?
THE QUESTION
Is it true that a drug-resistant superbug could kill tens of millions of people by 2050?
THE SOURCES
- Dr. Jason Bowling, an infectious disease specialist with University Health and Professor of Infectious Diseases with UT Health San Antonio
- Global Research on Antimicrobial Resistance, or GRAM
THE ANSWER
TRUE
WHAT WE FOUND
Dr. Bowling says the problems are a growing population and bacteria that are becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics.
"This will continue to increase based on how it's gone over the last 20 years. And so that is the big concern, that this really could be a reasonable estimate based on population growth and growth of these resistant bacteria," Dr. Bowling said.
Dr. Bowling added that people need to have access to vaccines and not overmedicate.
"We need to make sure that antibiotics are used appropriately, so we're not treating viral infections with antibiotics because the more bacteria get exposed to antibiotics, the more resistance we see," Dr. Bowling said.
The GRAM study looked at 204 countries between 1990 and 2021, and found those over the age of 70 had an over 80 percent increase in deaths attributed to antimicrobial resistance, and projected up to 169 million deaths could occur by the year 2050.
So yes, it is true. A drug-resistant superbug could kill tens of millions of people by 2050.
Dr. Bowling also stressed not to use antibiotics with a viral infection because they just don't help.