SYDNEY, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) — The rise of antibiotic-resistant infections in newborn babies is emerging as a growing global health threat, a study warns.
Researchers are calling for an urgent overhaul of diagnostic and treatment guidelines for infections in newborn babies, after a University of Sydney (USYD)-led study revealed frontline treatments for sepsis are no longer effective to treat the majority of bacterial infections, a USYD statement said on Monday.
The study, published in The Lancet Regional Health — Western Pacific, analysed almost 15,000 blood samples collected from sick babies in 2019 and 2020 at 10 hospitals across five countries in Southeast Asia, including Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Malaysia.
Findings showed that most infections were caused by bacteria unlikely to respond to the currently applied World Health Organization-recommended treatments, which were developed using data from high-income countries rather than localized regional data.
“Guidelines must be updated to reflect local bacterial profiles and known resistance patterns. Otherwise, mortality rates are only going to keep climbing,” warned study senior author Associate Professor Phoebe Williams from the USYD School of Public Health.
Researchers highlighted the slow pace of developing new antibiotic medications for infants and babies, urging substantial investment in this area.
While the study excluded Australian cases, researchers stressed Australia’s vigilance is critical given its close ties with Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific, where antimicrobial resistance is rising rapidly. ■