Anti-microbial resistant infection to kill 30,000 Americans a year by 2050, according to experts

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) estimated that antimicrobial resistance (AMR) could claim 30,000 lives per year in America by 2050.

According to OECD, AMR "is a large and growing problem with the potential for enormous health and economic consequences," internationally.

In 2015, the "superbugs" or drug-resistant infections killed more than 33,000 people in Europe.

A new report from the OECD predicts that it is on track to kill 30,000 Americans per year by 2050.

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The financial cost in every nation included in the analysis could also be as high as $3.5 billion a year.

As indicated by the lead on public health at the OECD, Michele Cecchini, these countries were already spending an average of 10 percent of their healthcare budgets on healing AMR bugs.

Cecchini explained, "AMR costs more than the flu, more than HIV, more than tuberculosis. And it will cost even more if countries don't put into place actions to tackle this problem."

There's also a prediction that the AMR infections will develop somewhere in the range of four and seven times quicker by 2030 than at present.

The report stated, "Such high resistance rates in health care systems, which are already weakened by constrained budgets, will create the conditions for an enormous death toll that will be mainly borne by new-borns, very young children and the elderly."

"Even small cuts in the kitchen, minor surgery or diseases like pneumonia could become life-threatening," the report added.

Another worrying prediction made by the OECD is that the resistance from supposed second and third line antibiotics will expand by 70 percent by 2030.

"These are antibiotics that as far as possible, we don't want to use because we want these as back up," Cecchini said. "Essentially, we are using more when we should use less, and we are running out of our best options in case of emergency."

The best way to avoid the disaster, according to the group, is to implement quick, sector-wide changes in behavior.

Healthcare professionals are called to guarantee better general cleanliness standards in hospitals and clinics by demanding all staff wash their hands and agree to stricter safety routines.

The group also suggested that resistance could be fought with better and faster testing to determine whether an infection is viral or bacterial.

OECD stated that such changes would cost as little as $2 per individual every year and would save millions of lives and billions of dollars by mid-century.