Global deaths in 2019: Bacterial infections second leading cause

Bacterial infections are the second leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for one in eight of all deaths in 2019, the first global estimate of their lethality revealed yesterday. The massive new study, published in the Lancet journal, looked at deaths from 33 common bacterial pathogens and 11 types of infection across 204 countries and territories. The pathogens were associated with 7.7 million deaths -- 13.6 percent of the global total -- in 2019, the year before the Covid-19 pandemic took off. That made them the second-leading cause of death after ischaemic heart disease, which includes heart attacks, the study said. Just five of the 33 bacteria were responsible for half of those deaths: Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. S. aureus is a bacterium common in human skin and nostrils but behind a range of illnesses, while E. coli commonly causes food poisoning. The study was conducted under the framework of the Global Burden of Disease, a vast research programme funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation involving thousands of researchers.