The World Health Organization (WHO) has updated its list of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that pose the greatest threat to human health, ranking the 15 families of bacteria that feature as “critical”, “high” and “medium” threats.
The Bacterial Priority Pathogens List (BPPL) 2024’s “critical” list features bacteria that are high burden, can resist treatment and spread resistance to other bacteria.
A new entrant on the “critical” list is a third-generation cephalosporin-resistant Enterobacterales. It joins tuberculosis resistant to rifampicin, and gram-negative bacteria resistant to last-resort antibiotics.
Gram-negative bacteria have built-in abilities to find new ways to resist treatment and can pass along genetic material that allows other bacteria to become drug resistant as well.
“The list provides guidance on the development of new and necessary treatments to stop the spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR),” according to the WHO