Prognosis

Antibiotics Misuse Is Making Bugs More Resistant to Treatments

Brightly coloured pharmaceutical medication, including antibiotics, paracetamol, Ibuprofen and cold relief tablets, manufactured by a variety of companies sit in this arranged photograph in London, U.K., on Friday, April 27, 2018. Pharmaceutical companies may see approval times cut to 14 months vs. 19 and about $370 million of sales brought forward per antibiotic after global regulators aligned rules to combat bacterial resistance.Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

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By Karoline Kan

October 27, 2025 at 10:00 AM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Hi, it’s Karoline in Singapore. The World Health Organization has released a new report on antibiotic resistance — and it’s grim. But before I get into the details...

Let’s start with the basics: antibiotic resistance happens when bacteria evolve to survive the drugs meant to kill them. It’s one of the biggest threats to global heath. Infections that used to be easily treatable are now becoming stubborn — or even untreatable.