(MENAFN- Al-Anbaa) When you're sick, you expect the medicine a doctor gives you to work. But the effectiveness of one of the most important types of drugs - antibiotics - is under threat.
Most people think they know when they need antibiotics. We think we need them when we feel really sick, whatever may be ailing us. If a doctor gives us antibiotics, we feel our illness has been acknowledged. But we don't always know the difference between bacterial and viral infections or that antibiotics don't cure viral infections. In fact, viruses cause many of the most common illnesses, like colds. Antibiotics can't do anything to help.
Doctors are a big part of the problem. We're prescribing broader and broader big gun antibiotics, and this creates stronger evolutionary pressure on bugs to mutate and become resistant, mostly because we aren't sure what we're treating. We figure that if we cover all our bases, we won't go wrong. Better diagnostic tests that were quick, easy and work well would make us feel more confident we haven't missed something.
Many doctors didn't learn microbiology very well in medical school. And unless they specialize in infectious diseases, that knowledge tends to deteriorate over time. When I ask my medical residents at the hospital what bugs cause what infections, they give me blank looks.
Increasing incomes have also driven a massive increase in food production. More antibiotics are used in animal husbandry and aquaculture than in people. It's projected that by 2030, antibiotic use in livestock will increase by two-thirds. Antibiotics are used to mask unhygienic conditions as well as to promote growth. And, as in people, indiscriminate antibiotic use drives resistance. We've seen antibiotic resistant bacteria then spread from live animals or animal food products to humans.
Still, you might say that the risk of antibiotic resistance seems very abstract and far off. It may seem fair to assume that scientists will come up with new antibiotics to replace the old before this becomes a serious problem. But medical experts aren't in the business of producing and selling drugs, pharmaceutical companies are.
Pharmaceutical companies develop drugs that will have a large market so they can recoup their investments in research and development and make a profit. The problem with antibiotics is that they're used them for a short time to treat an infection. Antibiotics aren't like Lipitor, which you might take for the rest of your life. And when new antibiotics are developed, their use is restricted so that resistance doesn't develop, which guarantees sales will be slow.
The good news is there are a few things everyone can do to help fight against antibiotic resistance. For instance, it may not seem like getting a flu shot - which helps us fight off a virus - would help, but people who become sick with the flu are at risk for complications like a subsequent bacterial pneumonia. Make sure kids are fully vaccinated. Pneumonia vaccination helped reduce the rate of penicillin-resistant strains of bacteria by 59 percent in this country over just a five-year period. Wash your hands and do so often. When you're sick, work from home if you can or take a sick day. And demand antibiotic-free food.
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