‘We’ve reached the end of antibiotics’: Top CDC expert declares that ‘miracle drugs’ that have saved millions are no match against ‘superbugs’ because people have overmedicated themselves
[i]A high-ranking official with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has declared in an interview with PBS that the age of antibiotics has come to an end.
‘For a long time, there have been newspaper stories and covers of magazines that talked about “The end of antibiotics, question mark?”’ said Dr Arjun Srinivasan. ‘Well, now I would say you can change the title to "The end of antibiotics, period.”’
Srinivasan, who is also featured in a Frontline report called ‘Hunting the Nightmare Bacteria,’ which aired Tuesday, said that both humans and livestock have been overmedicated to such a degree that bacteria are now resistant to antibiotics.
‘We’re in the post-antibiotic era,’ he said. 'There are patients for whom we have no therapy, and we are literally in a position of having a patient in a bed who has an infection, something that five years ago even we could have treated, but now we can’t.’.[/i]
I took a very interesting Biology class in college “The rise of new diseases and return of ancient plagues”. The professor was a professional commercial livestock veterinarian and said the same; this was 10 years ago.
Before antibiotics, a random infection could kill you.
There are a variety of population stress conditions that are increasingly putting industrial populations at risk for large die-offs. Resistant bacterial strains are becoming an increasingly relevant factor.
A big problem relating to to this is people not finishing antibiotics that they are given. Generally someone will stop whenever they feel better and not take the rest of their prescription. Leaving some of the virus to survive and adapt to the drug.
I read an article awhile back by a doctor that said we’re(society)over medicated and oversoaped and not letting our immune system do its thing (paraphrasing). Ill see if I can find it.
I had a really good health teacher in grade school that taught you only needed medications when you’re body can’t defeat the bacteria/virus that is making you sick. Doing this will make your immune system stronger.
Viruses are a different ball game, but also a major population die-off risk. Impending deadly viral pandemics have nothing to do with antibiotic resistance.
It is true that a major factor in antibiotic resistance is doctors prescribing them for viral infections.
Which is often at the demand of patients who want their doctors to “at least do something” for them when they are sick. Patients often get angry when their physicians simply tell them that they have a virus and do not need an antibiotic.
I caught the episode of Frontline which was pretty decent. Basically touched upon the fact that most large drug companies have abandoned testing and research for new antibiotics because of the poor return on investment. Costs close to $1 billion to bring a new antibiotic to market and that time and money can be better spent on more profitable drugs. They interviewed a higher up from Pfizer who basically said they don’t have a moral obligation to research new antibiotics and ultimately must answer to the shareholders.
After watching that episode if I ever have any type of surgery I’m choosing my hospital carefully. Some of those super bugs never leave the hospital once there.
Have heard this excuse for probably two decades - it’s a pathetically lame excuse. Would the docs give anyone with a headache a year’s supply of narcotic painkillers just because they wanted them? I think not… so why would they give out antibiotics with as much potential for harm?
Go to your doctor, say you’ve got a stiff neck, and demand prescriptions for narcotics, viagra, and some random cancer drug. Not any weirder than demanding antibiotics when you have a viral infection. (Let me know how it works out for you.)
The comparison isn’t valid, however. Scheduled drugs are tracked pretty closely. Indiscriminate prescribing will yield the attention of your state board of medical practice. Not true of antibiotics.
[QUOTE=SomeOtherGuy;1781561]Have heard this excuse for probably two decades - it’s a pathetically lame excuse. /QUOTE]
Actually it’s not an excuse. It’s one of many factors that have led to the development of this very serious problem. Doctors over-prescribing antibiotics. Patients not finishing antibiotics once they begin to feel better. Doctors prescribing more powerful antibiotics than are actually indicated and, yes, patients demanding antibiotics for non-bacterial infections because they believe they will help in some fashion.
Patients are our clients and the reality is that you don’t want to make your clients mad. They can and will go elsewhere. So this does lead to doctors prescribing antibiotics even when they know they shouldn’t. The DEA doesn’t care if you prescribe antibiotics willy nilly all day long. Different boat than narcotics which are carefully tracked. Apples and oranges.
Must be nice. Im a GP and wife is a pediatrician (only 4years for both of us), and we have this argument several times a day. Ironically, the patients that dont get their kids vaccinated have no problem with abx or stimulants.
Yeah, there are some nasty bugs out there nowadays. We’ve seen some strange stuff here since the tornado hit in 2011. One guy I know personally was injured that night & some bug got into his blood as a result. He has had to have several amputations since then. Most recently, he got a scratch on his hand that cost him a thumb and finger. Even now the surrounding tissue is being eaten by the bacteria. All known anti-bacterial meds have proven ineffective.
Our over-sanitized society has brought us to the point where our immune systems are compromised by bacteria we should be able to shrug off.
