WHO PRIORITY PATHOGENS

WHO PRIORITY PATHOGENS

TOPIC: Science & Tech

Context- Number of antibiotics, investment not sufficient to minimise threat of wide-spread infection according to a new report. Of the 12 antibiotics companies that have gone public in the past 10 years, only 5 are still active today.

• WHO published its list of antibiotic-resistant “priority pathogens” – a catalogue of 12 families of bacteria that pose the greatest threat to human health.

Concept-

WHO’s Global Priority Pathogen List?

• This list is a new tool to ensure R&D responds to urgent public health needs.
• The WHO list is divided into three categories: critical, high and medium priority.
• PRIORITY 1: CRITICAL
  • Acinetobacterbaumannii, carbapenem-resistant
  • Pseudomonas aeruginosa, carbapenem-resistant
  • Enterobacteriaceae, carbapenem-resistant, ESBL-producing
• PRIORITY 2: HIGH
  • Enterococcus faecium, vancomycin-resistant
  • Staphylococcus aureus, methicillin-resistant, vancomycin-intermediate and resistant
  • Helicobacter pylori, clarithromycin-resistant
  • Campylobacter spp., fluoroquinolone-resistant
  • Salmonellae, fluoroquinolone-resistant
  • Neisseria gonorrhoeae, cephalosporin-resistant, fluoroquinolone-resistant
• PRIORITY 3: MEDIUM
  • Streptococcus pneumoniae, penicillin-non-susceptible
  • Haemophilusinfluenzae, ampicillin-resistant
  • Shigella spp., fluoroquinolone-resistant
• The Indian Pathogen Priority List (IPPL) released by Union Ministry for Health and Family Welfare is aligned with WHO’s Global Priority Pathogen List of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.