Drug-resistant superbugs projected to kill 39 million by 2050

Infections of drug-resistant superbugs are projected to kill nearly 40 million people over the next 25 years, a global analysis predicted on Monday, with the researchers urging action to avoid this grim scenario.

Superbugs — strains of bacteria or pathogens that have become resistant to antibiotics, making them much harder to treat — have been recognised as a rising threat to global health.

The analysis has been billed as the first research to track the global impact of superbugs over time and to estimate what could happen next.