The World Health Organization sounded the alarm Monday over soaring numbers of drug-resistant bacterial infections, compromising the effectiveness of life-saving treatments and rendering minor injuries and common infections potentially deadly.

The United Nations' health agency warned that one in six laboratory-confirmed bacterial infections worldwide in 2023 showed resistance to antibiotic treatments.

"These findings are deeply concerning," Yvan J-F. Hutin, head of the WHO's antimicrobial resistance department, told reporters.