Antibiotic resistance has reached dangerously high levels in all parts of the world and widespread misunderstanding of the problem continues to fuel the rise of drug-resistant superbugs, the World Health Organization said Monday.

"The rise of antibiotic resistance is a global health crisis, and governments now recognize it as one of the greatest challenges for public health today. It is reaching dangerously high levels in all parts of the world," said WHO Director-General Margaret Chan. "Antibiotic resistance is compromising our ability to treat infectious diseases and undermining many advances in medicine."

She warned that the problem is so bad that it could lead to "the end of modern medicine as we know it," reported Voice of America.

Antibiotic resistance occurs when bacteria become immune to the antibiotics used to treat the infections they cause. Overuse and misuse of antibiotics dramatically speeds up resistance and makes common infections and minor injuries much harder to treat.

Resistance is largely caused by people taking antibiotics for infections they cannot help, people failing to take antibiotics for the full recommended time frame, natural mutation and evolution, and the widespread use of antibiotics on farm animals, according to NBC News.

Chan said that if antibiotics continue to be misused, the medicine could become useless against common infections and minor scratches, which could once again kill.

Already, two million people become infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria each year and 23,000 die as a direct result of antibiotic-resistant infections, according to the CDC. If bacteria continue evolving at the current rate, by 2050, some 10 million people will die each year due to resistance, costing the world up to $100 trillion, according to a recent review on antimicrobial resistance commissioned by the United Kingdom.

To help avoid the further emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance, WHO has launched a global campaign to raise awareness and encourage best practices among the public, policymakers, health and agricultural professionals.

On Monday, the first day of World Antibiotics Week (running Nov. 16-20), the group published results from a 12-country survey designed to gauge the public's knowledge on the use of antibiotics, and the results are somewhat worrisome.

The 10,000-person survey found that 64 percent of respondents believed that antibiotics cure the common cold and flu, while in fact, the drugs have no impact on viruses. Thirty-two percent said you should stop taking antibiotics once you feel better, but doing so actually increases the risk that the infection isn't properly cleared, according to CBS News.

The survey was conducted in Barbados, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, Russian Federation, Serbia, South Africa, Sudan and Vietnam.

A large majority of respondents, 76 percent, had a misunderstanding of the concept of "resistance," wrongly believing that antibiotic resistance meant the body was becoming resistant. However, the bacteria is actually becoming resistant. Forty-six percent mistakenly believed that antibiotic resistance only affects people who regularly take antibiotics, but anyone can get a superbug infection at any time. Sixty-six percent also thought antibiotic resistance only affects those who don't take antibiotics as prescribed.

Chan urged doctors to "treat antibiotics as a precious commodity," dissuade patients from demanding antibiotics for infections they can't treat and to use the medicine strictly according to the prescription.

But doctors can only do so much, especially considering, for example, only 56 percent of Russian respondents who had taken antibiotics in the past year had them prescribed by a doctor or nurse, while five percent of Chinese and Nigerian respondents had bought them over the Internet or from a hawker.

"The findings of this survey point to the urgent need to improve understanding around antibiotic resistance," said Special Representative of the Director-General for Antimicrobial Resistance Keiji Fukuda. "This campaign is just one of the ways we are working with governments, health authorities and other partners to reduce antibiotic resistance. One of the biggest health challenges of the 21st century will require global behaviour change by individuals and societies."

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