Antibiotic Resistance Is Now Rife across the Entire Globe

A first-ever World Health Organization assessment of the growing problem calls for rapid changes to avoid the misery and deaths of a potential "post-antibiotic era"

Dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria and other pathogens have now emerged in every part of the world and threaten to roll back a century of medical advances. That’s the message from the World Health Organization in its first global report on this growing problem, which draws on drug-resistance data in 114 countries.

“A post antibiotic-era—in which common infections and minor injuries can kill—far from being an apocalyptic fantasy, is instead a very real possibility for the 21st century,” wrote Keiji Fukuda, WHO’s assistant director general for Health Security, in an introduction to the report. The crisis is the fruit of several decades of overreliance on the drugs and careless prescribing practices as well as routine use of the medicines in the rearing of livestock, the report noted.

Antibiotic resistance is putting patients in peril in both developing and developed countries, as bacteria responsible for an array of dangerous infections evolve resistance to the drugs that once vanquished them.

Gonorrhea, once well treated by antibiotics, is once again a major public health threat due to the emergence of new, resistant strains. Drugs that were once a last resort treatment for the sexually transmitted disease—which can lead to infertility, blindness and increased odds of HIV transmission if left untreated—are now the first-line treatment and are sometimes ineffective among patients in countries such as the U.K., Canada, Australia, France, Japan, Norway, South Africa, Slovenia and Sweden.

Drugs to treat Klebsiella pneumoniae—a common intestinal bacteria that can cause life-threatening infections in intensive care unit patients and newborns—no longer work in more than half of patients in some countries. And fluoroquinolones, drugs used to treat urinary tract infections, are also ineffective in more than half of sufferers in many parts of the world. Efforts to limit the spread of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, malaria and HIV are also all under threat due to increasing bacterial resistance.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/antibiotic-resistance-is-now-rife-across-the-globe/

Been discussing this for a long time on my 'loony site'. It's really very serious. The problem's been made worse by GPs handing out antibiotics for every sniff and cough people moan about to them, just to get rid of them I expect. Then there's the huge amounts of this stuff being pumped into farm animals (and I know that for a fact living in a farming community here,) so it gets into the food chain. Then there's this obsession with destroying germs everywhere, destroying our natural immunity.

I live surrounded by horseshit and dogs; probably loads of germs. I've only ever taken antibiotics once for a serious hand injury, never catch colds or any illness, and don't eat contaminated meat (or any meat). Fit as a fiddle. Rest my case.

Tesstacious wrote:Been discussing this for a long time on my 'loony site'.  It's really very serious.  The problem's been made worse by GPs handing out antibiotics for every sniff and cough people moan about to them, just to get rid of them I expect. Then there's the huge amounts of this stuff being pumped into farm animals (and I know that for a fact living in a farming community here,) so it gets into the food chain.  Then there's this obsession with destroying germs everywhere, destroying our natural immunity.

I live surrounded by horseshit and dogs; probably loads of germs.  I've only ever taken antibiotics once for a serious hand injury, never catch colds or any illness, and don't eat contaminated meat (or any meat).  Fit as a fiddle.  Rest my case.

Not suprised Tess, you sound like my mother   , she has never had a Tetanus jab or like you get ill. To me though I think women especially mothers build up an immunity to many illnesses anyway, more so in her case having so many children, who tend to get every illness going. So see your point on germs and believe you build up a natural immunity. That make sense to me, mother natures way.


Maybe this is natures way also of addressing the population balance????

I think it is partly genetics, I hardly ever get sick, never use antibiotics, I eat meat and everything (pretty much if i have never eaten it before I will try it and I have had witchetty grubs)... but I am also around animals a lot.  

maybe that helps, animals and kids pretty much the same thing   

veya_victaous wrote:I think it is partly genetics, I hardly ever get sick, never use antibiotics, I eat meat and everything (pretty much if i have never eaten it before I will try it and I have had witchetty grubs)... but I am also around animals a lot.  

maybe that helps, animals and kids pretty much the same thing   

Again I agree, when you are growing up in such environments the body becomes accustomed