More than 1.2 million people are dying every year directly from bacterial infections that are resistant to several antibiotics, according to a new study, making multiresistant bacteria far deadlier than HIV/AIDS or malaria. A further 4.95 million deaths were associated with these multiresistant bacteria. “It is estimated that if we don’t find alternatives by 2050, millions of lives will be lost and there will be $100 trillion of lost [economic] output,” Antonia Sagona, an expert on bacterial infections at England’s University of Warwick, said in an interview with VOA.  The study, …

Over 1.2 million people are dying every year from bacterial infections that are resistant to antibiotics, according to a new study. That makes multi-resistant bacteria far deadlier than HIV/AIDS or malaria. Henry Ridgwell reports. …

It remains 100 seconds to midnight on the “Doomsday Clock,” the famous annual announcement for how close humanity is to extinction. The Chicago-based non-profit Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists kept the analog hands at the same time for a second year in a row — the closest it has been to midnight during its 75 years.  “The Doomsday Clock is holding steady at 100 seconds to midnight. But steady is not good news. In fact, it reflects the judgment of the board, that we are stuck in a perilous moment, …

International health workers say the end of the war in Afghanistan brings new hope to efforts to rid the country of the crippling disease polio.  For many years, efforts to immunize all Afghan children under five years old were considered unfeasible because of widespread insecurity and threats to health workers.  But with the end of the war, and Taliban pledges last year to support the polio immunization campaign, aid agencies now say they can access nearly all parts of the country, giving them an opportunity to eradicate poliovirus.   “If we …