Mutating bacteria and viruses are a growing concern for healthcare providers as their treatments become less effective over time.

According to the health expert Victoria Lambert, unless the world gets behind US president Barack Obama's pledge to tackle the problem of mutating bugs modern healthcare could be in serious trouble.

Writing for the Daily Telegraph, Lambert said the threat is not just posed by existing bugs such as MRSA and C Diff, but from potential new variants that could be immune to existing treatments.

Speaking to the newspaper, Dr Richard Whitley, president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, said: "Without effective antimicrobials, modern medical treatments such as operations, transplants, intensive care, cancer treatment and care of premature babies will become very risky, if not impossible."

Lambert claims that one answer is to boost hand-washing in healthcare facilities across the globe - a move which could help destroy many of the harmful bacteria before they pose a threat to patients.

Another threat to patients around the world is the proliferation of counterfeit medicine, according to the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain.