England's chief medical officer has called for politicians to seriously tackle the threat of antimicrobial disease as they did with MRSA.
According to Professor Dame Sally Davies, global action is needed to tackle the "catastrophic" implications of antimicrobial resistance which in 20 years could see people dying following minor surgery.
The warning has come as the second volume of the chief medical officer's annual report has been published.
The report provides an overview of the threat of antimicrobial resistance and infectious diseases.
It highlights a "discovery void" that while a new infectious disease has been discovered every year over the past 30 years there have been very few new antibiotics developed.
According to Davies, this void was leaving armoury nearly empty as diseases evolve and become resistant to existing drugs.
She said: "Antimicrobial resistance poses a catastrophic threat. If we don't act now, any one of us could go into hospital in 20 years for minor surgery and die because of an ordinary infection that can't be treated by antibiotics.
"And routine operations like hip replacements or organ transplants could be deadly because of the risk of infection.
"In some areas, like cutting rates of drug resistant MRSA, the NHS is already making good progress so it's important that we use that knowledge across the system and I hope my recommendations will prompt people to do that."
She added governments and organisations across the world, including the World Health Organization and G8, needed to take the issue seriously.
"This is not just about government action. We need to encourage more innovation in the development of antibiotics," Davies said.
The report makes 17 recommendations including a call for antimicrobial resistance to be put on the national risk register.
The Department of Health is set to publish the UK Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy that will plan how it will meet this challenge.
The five-year UK Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy and Action Plan will; champion the responsible use of antibiotics; strengthen surveillance by improving the recording of data and trends; and encourage the development of new diagnostics, therapeutics and antibiotics.
