Efforts to tackle drug-resistant infections will require a global fund of at least 5 billion US dollars (£3.8 billion) each year, according to researchers.

Experts in infectious diseases are calling for a World Bank Trust Fund to co-ordinate global action over what they believe to be a growing public health crisis.

In addition to the cash injection, they are also making the case for worldwide limits on antibiotics use.

The call has come from researchers at the University of Edinburgh; the US Centre for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy; New York University and Fudan University in China, who have outlined their proposals in the journal Science.

Scientists say growing resistance is leading to the emergence of superbugs that can cause life-threatening infections, such as MRSA or drug-resistant tuberculosis.

The researchers argue that a co-ordinated global response is needed to tackle the problem and recommend introducing targets to reduce the number of drug-resistant infections over the next five years.

They suggest 5 billion US dollars is needed annually to develop global systems for monitoring resistance and to establish the framework needed to address the threat.

It could also be used to accelerate the development of new vaccines and treatments.

And they propose the use of antibiotics in agriculture to promote growth of farmed animals should be phased out across the globe.

The journal paper states: "The cost of antibiotic treatment and mortality due to resistance are increasing worldwide. The greatest burden occurs in low and middle-income countries, especially among the young: An estimated 214,000 neonatal sepsis deaths are attributable to resistant pathogens each year.

"But high-income countries are not immune: An estimated 23,000 people in the United States and 25,000 in Europe die each year from resistant pathogens."

The article goes on: "Antibiotic resistance threatens decades of progress in medicine, food security, and public health. Global collective action rooted in national responses is needed."

The recommendations come ahead of a United Nations General Assembly meeting next month, where heads of state will discuss how to preserve access to effective medicines for infectious diseases.

Professor Mark Woolhouse, of the University of Edinburgh's Centre for Immunity, Infection and Evolution, said: "Drug resistance knows no borders, as we have seen with the spread of superbugs around the world.

"It is crucial that nations come together with appropriate financing and governance to tackle this challenge together."

Earlier this month, it emerged that bacteria resistant to a common form of last-resort antibiotic has been discovered in Scotland for the first time.

The bacteria - detected in a salmonella patient who had returned from south-east Asia - contain a genetic mutation which means they do not respond to the powerful antibiotic colistin (polymyxins).

Scientists have described the gene, known as mcr-1, as posing a ''substantial public health risk''.

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