Antibiotics and the Rise of the Superbugs

As everyone knows C. difficile broke out in the Niagara Region here in Ontario with the death toll reaching 24 by July 17. 2011 there was also an occurrence down in Cape Breton. It is important to understand what it is so this article will give you the basic information. Before 1942 if you got cut deeply you were pretty much a goner and Gonorrhoea and syphilis infections were rampant as well. Infections are not created equally both bacteria or viruses can be the cause.

---

Viruses need a host to replicate - your body - where bacteria can live independently. Now antibiotics only work against bacteria. But it is viruses that cause the common cold, most sore throats, the flu, and many gastrointestinal infections. Doctors are causing harm by increasing the number of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (superbugs) by giving out prescriptions for viral infections. Over the last 50 years an increasing number of bacteria have become resistant to older antibiotics. Resistance to new antibiotics will also occur and drug companies will develop newer stronger versions of antibiotics with even great risks (side effects). Better antibiotics weed out the weak bacteria. The bacteria that are left are even more resistant to the antibiotics we currently have. Thus one antibiotic-resistant superbug often emerges and multiples. One hundred thousand people die every year in American hospitals from bacteria infections called Nosocomial infections that are largely related to drug-resistant bacteria.

---

---

This article shows Infections maybe as high as 250,000 with the death toll number 8,000 per year in Canada. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) are becoming more common and the number of MRSA cases are growing exponentially. Clostridium difficile usually attacks hospital patients who have been on multiple antibiotics that have wiped out their normal colonic bacteria (good bacteria). A truly frightening scenario has scientists and infectious-diseases specialists predicting that we may get to the point where we can't find any new medications that will treat those new forms of bacteria. In Japan a superbug form of Gonorrhoea has been discovered with a second article from the L.A. Times pointing out the future potential danger. As Professor Daniel Rockey, a professor of bacteriology at Oregon State University says, " if [drug resistant Chlamydia] ever does get into the population, all bets are off". If antibiotics used in treatment are no longer effective against superbugs we may very well have reached a point where any infectious disease in the near future will be fatal. The overview of this came from a book called Before You Take That Pill: Why the Drug Industry May Be Bad For Your Health written by Dr. Douglas Bremner . He blogs on a regular basis and you might like to bookmark his blog site. A second book you might like to consider getting your hands on is Overdiagnosed: Making People Sick In The Pursuit Of Health by Dr. H. Gilbert Welch, Dr. Lisa M. Schwartz and Dr. Steven Woloshin. I think both are handy to have around the house as source references. Andrew Phillips, Andrewmphillips.net, is a member of the Libertarian Party of Canada. Andrew can be reached at: andrewmp@rogers.com

---