Antimicrobial resistance research

One of the biggest threats to our health today is antimicrobial resistance - when harmful bacteria and fungi that cause infections become resistant to the medicines we use to kill them. It is not a future problem. A 2022 report tallied 1.3 million deaths around the world directly attributed to infections caused by resistant bacteria, with nearly five million deaths associated with antibiotic resistance. 

The effects on global society of increasing antibiotic resistance will be immense

• Common medical treatments will become too risky to perform - antibiotics are administered after most invasive medical procedures.
• All life on earth would potentially be affected - antibiotics are used widely in animal production and animal welfare, including aquaculture, and have even been used to treat bacterial diseases in plants.
• Economic devastation is imminent with inaction - antibiotic resistance could cost the global economy up to US$100 trillion by 2050. In Australia, a recent study found that resistance in the bacteria that cause urinary tract infections would cost an estimated $1.6 billion per year by 2030 without action.

Despite the far-reaching and immense effects, antibiotic resistance research remains significantly underfunded compared to other areas of medicine such as cancer and heart disease - neither of which will be safely treatable if we don’t overcome increasing antimicrobial resistance rates.   

There is significant reason for hope

UQ and IMB are the leading global research option to deliver drugs and cures. This is due to the powerful combination of co-locating the world’s leading experts in infectious disease, an unprecedented record for translating viable compounds through to clinical trials, and the largest and most comprehensive compound screening solutions anywhere on the globe.