83% Indians carry antibiotic-resistant bacteria: Lancet study
“These organisms can enter the bloodstream and trigger septicemia. India’s high sepsis fatality rate is linked to this growing resistance. We have many antibiotics, yet patients are dying because the microbes no longer respond,” he added.
India is experiencing a "superbug explosion," with 83% of patients arriving at hospitals already carrying drug-resistant bacteria, according to a global study.
Published in The Lancet, the study warns that the country has reached a "critical tipping point" in the battle against antimicrobial resistance (AMR), reports The Times of India.
Experts said the crisis has been fuelled by widespread, unregulated access to antibiotics—including over-the-counter sales—and their heavy use in agriculture, livestock, and poultry farms. AMR occurs when microbes such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites adapt to survive medications intended to eliminate them, making common infections increasingly difficult—and sometimes impossible—to cure.
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The study found Indian patients to be disproportionately vulnerable, especially those with chronic lung disease, heart failure, or frequent antibiotic exposure. The research analyzed 1,200 patients across hospitals in India, Italy, the US, and the Netherlands. Indian participants showed markedly higher rates of resistant bacteria (83%) compared to 31.5% in Italy, 20% in the US, and 10.8% in the Netherlands.
Many of the identified organisms were resistant even to last-line antibiotics. These bacteria were detected during routine ERCP endoscopy procedures, which use a sterilized flexible camera (duodenoscope) passed through the mouth to assess the pancreas, liver, and gallbladder.
Despite rigorous cleaning, some highly resistant microbes were found to persist on the instruments. Senior gastroenterologist and study co-author Dr D Nageshwar Reddy said that once-treatable infections are now becoming far more dangerous. "Pneumonia that earlier resolved in four days may now take 8–10 days—or may not respond at all," he said.
"These organisms can enter the bloodstream and trigger septicemia. India's high sepsis fatality rate is linked to this growing resistance. We have many antibiotics, yet patients are dying because the microbes no longer respond," he added.
