What we need to know for winning the battle against superbugs? – An interview with Matteo Bassetti

The world needs new antibiotics urgently: antibiotic-resistant super-bacteria kill 700 thousand people every year, 33 thousand in Europe and 10,000 in Italy. According to the WHO, deaths from resistant germ infections will outnumber those from cancer by 2050, with 10 million lives lost. The introduction of new antibiotics, however, could reduce mortality from hospital infections by one third, saving only 3,000 lives every year in our country today. Unfortunately there are very few new molecules in an advanced stage of clinical development: just 12 worldwide compared to over 700 in Oncology.

The alarm and the new estimate come from the major infectious disease specialists gathered in Genoa for the International Symposium “What do we need to know to win the battle against superbugs?”, promoted by Prof. Matteo Bassetti, Director of the Infectious Diseases Clinic of the Policlinico San Martino in Genoa , and organized by Aristea, on behalf of the Menarini International Foundation, to rate the point on antibiotic resistance and new strategies to combat it.