England's top physician warns of 'post-antibiotic apocalypse'

England's CMO Dr. Dame Sally Davies told U.K.'s Press Association the loss of antibiotics' efficacy would mean "the end of modern medicine," according an article published in The Guardian.

Dr. Davies has repeatedly warned about antibiotic resistance, arguing the issue does not get enough attention. Without antibiotics, transplant medicine would cease to exist and common surgical procedures and cancer treatments would become incredibly risky.

"We really are facing — if we don't take action now — a dreadful post-antibiotic apocalypse. I don't want to say to my children that I didn't do my best to protect them and their children," Dr. Davies told The Guardian. "This is a serious issue that is with us now, causing deaths. If it was anything else, people would be up in arms about it. But because it is hidden they just let it pass. It does not really have a 'face' because most people who die of drug-resistant infections, their families just think they died of an uncontrolled infection. It will only get worse unless we take strong action everywhere across the globe."

Drug-resistant infections kill about 700,000 people around the world every year, according to the article.

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