Saturday, March 6, 2010

Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria


In this country we have always had the privilege of going to the doctor when we get sick and if we had any kind of bacteria infection at all, the doctor would prescribe an antibiotic and we would take them as directed and in a few days all would be well again. The antibiotic the doctor prescribed usually worked very well and if it didn't the doctor would either adjust the dosage or give us another kind of antibiotic.

Now the problem is that the kinds of bacterial infections that are on the raise have become resistant to the drugs we have available for our use. Not to mention the new strains of bacterial infections that keep popping up one such germ is Acinetobacter baumannii. This bacteria kills thousands of patients in hospitals each year in this country and yet it seems that there is not much if anything at all that we can do about it. Another bacteria that is drug resisant and starting to cause problems is methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA for short. MRSA is a bacteria that can be found in pork and yes it has been found in 3% of pork that has been bought in some grocery stores in this country. Now if pork is cooked thoroughly it will kill the mars bacteria. The problem is that you can become infected with MRSA simply by touching pork that has the bacteria on it. MRSA kills more people per year then AIDS.


The FDA and CDC at this point have no real plans for testing store bought pork to detect for pork containing MRSA. We also have bacteria that at one time were very treatable with antibiotics. Now it is somewhat a different story. It seems that with time bacteria can and become drug resistant. At one time strains of Escherichia coli commonly known as E. Coli, and strains of the Staphylococcus bacteria were very easily treated with antibiotics. Today these bacteria's do show strong signs of having drug resistant strains. there are also many others that are becoming more difficult to treat with the antibiotics we have available today.

Part of the reason for this lack of antibiotics that work on the infections that we get are
the drug makers no longer put a lot of effort into making new antibiotics because it is not very profitable any more for them o do so . Most patients that come down with a bacterial infection take the prescribed antibiotic for only a week or two and then they are cured. so it is not very profitable any more for the drug companies to make the effort to develop new, stronger , antibiotics. It is sad but true that the all mighty dollar and profit is considered more then our health and well being.

Another reason for antibiotics not working as well as they once did is the miss use of them. Doctors prescribe them to their patients even at tie when antibiotics are not needed to treat an infection. I would think this is because some antibiotics can and are used to treat other conditions. However, I do think that doctors have to be very careful in doing this because of the chance of becoming immune to the antibiotic . One more reason that our antibiotics have become less effective when we take them is the simple fact that for years now a lot of people would run to their doctor and demand a course of antibiotics for a simple scratch on their finger or arm or even if they fell and skinned their knee. You might find that hard to swallow but, I have known a few people in my life time that have done just that.

Still, another reason for our antibiotics not doing the good job they used to do is very simple. In the United States farmers all across the country ad antibiotics to the feed of beef, chicken and, pork. this not only helps make the animal itself immune to antibiotics but when we eat that meat we also digest whatever antibiotic that was fed to that animal. Thus we get even more antibiotics in our bodies. Several government agencies such as the American Medical Association, the World Health Organization, the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations are fighting to have this unhealthy practice stopped.

It makes sense that we should only use antibiotics under a doctors supervision and the doctor should only prescribe antibiotics to patients only when the use of an antibiotic is warranted. it may surprise a lot of people to learn that a few antibiotics are also made illegally to be sold on the streets and in back alleys just as drugs such as Oxycodone, Vicodin and, a host of other drugs that really have no antibiotic value but just the same can be bought on the streets of almost any city in this country.

In closing I am including a link to a well written and very informative article by Richard J. Whitley, titled "Saving-Antibiotics-so-Antibiotics Can Save Us".

Until next time take care and stay healthy

No comments:

Post a Comment