Each year, 700,000 people worldwide are killed by multi-resistant bacteria. These are microbes which cannot be wiped out by any antibiotic. This figure could rise dramatically. According to a recent study, this death toll could rise by factor ten until the year 2050: without powerful agents ten million people could die each year due to such superbugs. Anti-microbial resistant bacteria would then be the number one cause of death. Scientific studies from India show how fast they are spreading: Almost 100 percent of newborn babies at a ward in New Delhi carried traces of such resistant bacteria in them. Several scientists share the belief that the life expectancy of people could drop dramatically. In the future, more people could die as a result of this than of cancer and diabetes together. The film tells us how we got there: It is a story about how negligence, greed and short-sightedness has rendered the lifesaving effects of antibiotics powerless. It is a science-thriller about disillusioned, fighting doctors, rebellious scientists, patients wrestling with life-threatening diseases and diplomats searching for a global solution. They all are Resistance Fighters.
Biography:
Michael Wech, worked as a trainee with the filmmaker and book author Egmont R. Koch and then studied political science and international relations in Hamburg and London and as a scholarship holder at Bilkent University in Ankara. Since 1998 he has been shooting documentaries for ARD, ZDF, 3sat and ARTE.
