The World Health Organization sounded the alarm Monday about a growing threat of drug-resistant bacteria around the globe that could undermine life-saving treatments, an issue Wayne State University researchers have been warning about for years.

One in 6 laboratory-confirmed bacterial infections that led to common infections in people worldwide in 2023 were resistant to antibiotic treatments, according to a WHO report released Monday that reviewed data from more than 100 countries. From 2018-23, antibiotic resistance increased in more than 40% of the pathogen-antibiotic combinations monitored, rising to more than 70% in some African nations, the report found.

This growing threat to global health, including in the United States, compromises the ability of antibiotics and other drugs to

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