ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANT

Prof Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928 and warned of the potential for bacterial resistance to antibiotics. This has become a global public health problem due to the use and misuse of antibiotics. Over the past 25 years, the bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli have begun to show a resistance to antibiotics, threatening global public health. According to the 2014 Review on Antimicrobial Resistance, if antibiotic resistance is allowed to increase at its current rate, it is projected to cause up to 10 million deaths a year globally by 2050. MEDLAB 2018 organised a conference titled ‘Antibiotic Use and Misuse’ to address the challenges of antibiotic use in the region and globally. The conference focused on reviewing current approaches to antibiotic use, recognising emerging and reemerging resistant pathogens, discovering advanced infection control methods, evaluating antimicrobial stewardship efforts, and analysing the main causes of antibiotic misuse.