UK’s Cameron calls for global action on superbug threat

By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) – Prime Minister David Cameron called on Wednesday for global action to tackle the threat of drug-resistant superbugs and said Britain planned to take a leading role in finding ways to spur the development of new antibiotics. A world without effective antibiotics would push medicine back into the "dark ages", he said, with routine surgery, treatments for cancer and organ transplants potentially becoming impossible. Cameron announced an independent review led by former Goldman Sachs chief economist Jim O'Neill to pinpoint the problems and identify why so few new antibiotics are being developed. Cameron said he had discussed the issue at a G7 summit of leaders in Brussels last month and had won specific support for the initiative from U.S. President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.