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Tag: Antibiotic resistant bacteria

Why You Probably Have a Lot Less to Fear From the Latest Superbug Than You Think

Infectious disease is the most hyperbolic of all medical fields, at least when the media gets ahold of such.

Right now we are to fear a new avian influenza virus. Previously there was another avian influenza strain whose outbreak threatened the world and of course SARS and, more distantly, the ebola virus and the threat of bioterrorism. And on the periphery, as these acute threats come and go, is the persistent threat of super bugs; bacteria resistant to multiple antibiotics. Sometimes all antibiotics.

I remember my pharmacology professor in medical school claiming that within our practice lives we would reach the useful end of antibiotics. A claim, literally, that physicians would no longer have any use for antibiotics by the time I reached the end of my career.

Scary stuff but evidence that such outrageousness sells pharmacology in a classroom as much as it does magazines on a news stand. Time magazine a post called “The End of Antibiotics?” referencing a Guardian article along the same lines. This followed a similar 2009 scare article in Time.

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Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria in Hospitals: A Time for Action

Every few years there are reports of antibiotic resistant microbes that prompt a series of predictions about “the end of antibiotics.”  It happened in the 90s with multi-drug resistant tuberculosis and then again earlier this decade with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA.  It’s happening again with carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae or CRE. Predictably, over time these bacteria have become resistant to more and more antibiotics.  Almost just as predictably, they could be treated by a category of powerful antibiotics known as carbapenems – until now.

Today, 35 states have reported cases of CRE infection to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. And they are dangerous. In a recent study of almost 100 cases, more than a third of the patients died from the infection.  The concern over these bacteria is compounded by the fact that there are no new antibiotics to treat them coming anytime soon.  Most experts agree that even in the most optimistic scenario it will likely be about 10 years before effective new drugs are developed.  A variety of efforts are being debated to speed the development of new antibiotics, but these discussions often overlook one critically important issue.  One of the reasons our current antibiotics are losing their effectiveness is because we don’t use them properly.  Studies have shown, repeatedly, that up to 50% of antibiotic prescriptions are either unnecessary or inappropriate – a statistic that is disappointingly consistent across both in-patient hospitals and out-patient clinics.  Not only does this overuse reduce the effectiveness of our current antibiotics, it threatens the utility of any new antibiotics that come along in the future.

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