A major report on resistance to antibiotics is warning a person could die every three seconds from superbug infections by 2050.

The British government review also claims the global cost could reach 70 trillion pounds – unless urgent action is taken.

Economist Lord Jim O’Neill who carried out the report for the British Prime Minister has said awareness is key to changing attitudes to medicines.

Report author and economist Jim O’Neill is calling for a global revolution on the use of antibiotics: “If we don’t find more antibiotics and if we simultaneously don’t stop treating them like sweets, things like hip replacements, Caesarean birth, we won’t be able to have them, because antibiotics are needed to curtail the pain that goes with them.”

Recommendations include reducing the number of antibiotics given to animals and a global public awareness campaign.