The Growing Threat of Antimicrobial Resistance in India

India is the world’s leading consumer of antibiotics, and Amita Gupta, MD, is researching how the country can best mitigate the spread of antimicrobial resistancOn Tuesday, Gupta presented research entitled “Surveillance of multi-drug resistance organisms in India: Current work and why it matters,” at the World Anti-Microbial Resistance Congress.

Any discussion of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) would be incomplete without taking India, the world’s second most populous country, into consideration. Gupta explained that India has a very complex healthcare system, and is the world’s leading consumer of antimicrobials.

Gupta’s research found that the proportion of resistance to leading antibiotics (such as carbapenems) is 20 times higher in India than in the US. This large number of people and proportion of people with resistance has led to AMR becoming a cause of morbidity and mortality in adults and children.