In this month’s National Geographic, I came across a fascinating article about antibiotic resistance. The recent scare in California of a bacteria, spread in hospitals through a special type of scope used in the pancreas and bile ducts, is raising awareness. CRE is not only spread through medical devices, but through wounds and stool.
The chronic overuse of antibiotics for every sniffle, bacterial or not, is to blame for the resistance of bacteria to antibiotics. Patients with weak immune systems, (cancer patients, transplant patients, etc.) are most affected in many antibiotic resistance bacteria situations. Doctors constantly provide children with antibiotics for anything that they have. As known, virus’s are not affected by antibiotics. This has not stopped doctors from prescribing them. I was shocked when my friend’s child sent them home without an antibiotic and told my friend “this is a minor bug, let the child’s body fight it”. I like this doctor’s attitude. Now for some facts.
The article in National Geographic states:
“Since the 1950s farmers have fed antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) to livestock. Overusing these substances can create super-bugs, pathogens that are resistant to multiple drugs and could be passed along to humans. Mindful of that, companies such as Perdue Farms have stopped using the drugs to make chickens gain weight faster. Since Denmark banned AGPs in the 1990’s, the major pork exporter says it’s producing more pigs-and the animals get fewer diseases. Says Centers for Disease Control and Prevention epidemiologist Tom Chiller, “Antibiotics are miracle drugs that should only be used to treat diseases.”