According to a report released on Tuesday and published in the Lancet journal, bacterial infections were the second biggest cause of death worldwide in 2019, the year before the COVID-19 pandemic and were responsible for roughly one in eight of all fatalities.
In the same year, five prevalent forms of bacteria in India were responsible for roughly 6.8 lakh fatalities.
At least 7.7 million people, 13 per cent of the global total, died due to common bacterial pathogens three years ago making it the second-leading cause of death after ischaemic heart disease (caused by narrowed coronary arteries reducing the supply of blood to the heart).
The research looked at deaths caused by 33 common bacterial pathogens and 11 types of infection across nearly 204 countries and territories.
It was carried out using the framework and information from the Global Burden of Disease 2019 and Global Research on Antimicrobial Resistance (GRAM) projects, with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Notably, S. aureus, E. coli, S. pneumoniae, K. pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa are five of the 33 bacteria that caused at least half of the deaths.
According to Christopher Murray, co-author of the report and director of the US-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, the study demonstrates the ‘full depth’ of the difficulties that bacterial illnesses present for international public health. He also highlighted the importance of incorporating the data from this research in global health initiatives ‘so that a deeper dive into these deadly pathogens can be conducted and proper investments are made to slash the number of deaths and infections.’
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