AI Innovations Aim to Improve Diagnosis and Treatment of Drug-Resistant Infections

Mon, 04 May 2026 00:37:00 +0200

Antibiotic resistance is an escalating global health crisis, responsible for over a million deaths annually and contributing to millions more. Traditional treatment often relies on physicians' judgment, with diagnostic tests taking two to three days—time that can be critical, especially in cases like sepsis, where every hour of delay increases mortality risk by 4 to 9 percent. Ara Darzi, director of the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College London, highlighted at WIRED Health 2026 that AI-powered diagnostics now offer over 99% accuracy without additional lab infrastructure. These tools are particularly valuable for rural and underserved regions. AI can also accelerate drug discovery and predict bacterial resistance patterns, demonstrated by a collaboration between the UK’s NHS and Google DeepMind, which solved a decade-old resistance problem in just 48 hours. Despite technological advances, pharmaceutical companies have largely abandoned antibiotic development due t