Reporting from the National Congress of Clinical Laboratory Medicine (LABCLIN 2025) in Valencia, Spain’s laboratory medicine community expressed deep concern about the momentum of antimicrobial resistance.
According to information shared at the meeting and reported by EFE, nearly 1,500 specialists reviewed new data showing that multidrug-resistant bacteria are becoming harder to treat and more expensive for hospitals to manage.
Luis Martínez, head of Microbiology at the Reina Sofía University Hospital in Córdoba, told attendees that the rise of resistant infections has put healthcare workers in what he described, as quoted by EFE, as “a real race against time".
Global evidence showing the scale of the threat
The World Health Organization has repeatedly warned that, without decisive action, resistant infections could cause up to 10 million deaths a year by 2050.
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That concern was underscored in the WHO’s most recent research-priority list, which places carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter, certain drug-resistant enterobacteria, and rifampicin-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis in its most critical category.
A second tier includes pathogens such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.
Some of these organisms not only evade key antibiotics but also carry genes that make their infections more severe.
What experts say must happen next
Although the use of antibiotics in people and animals has fallen in recent years, specialists interviewed at the congress stressed that progress remains fragile.
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They argued for tighter microbiological surveillance, more careful prescribing practices and sustained investment in new antibiotics and alternative therapies.
Their message was clear: resistance is rising faster than solutions, and slowing that trend will require coordinated action rather than isolated improvements.
Sources: El Confidencial.
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