4 ms·
Look, this is scary and a big problem, but can we please stop talking about the "end of the road" for antibiotics? The worry here isn't that antibiotics will s
by adrusi 10y ago
Look, this is scary and a big problem, but can we please stop talking about the "end of the road" for antibiotics?
The worry here isn't that antibiotics will suddenly become useless and whenever anyone gets a bacterial infection they'll have no hope. The worry is that there will be a number of prevalent bacterial illnesses which can't be treated with antibiotics.
Currently antibiotics work for an overwhelming majority of bacterial illnesses, that's not going to change overnight. What will change is the idea that bacterial illnesses are trifles because they can be cured every time by antibiotics. A few diseases will emerge, more and more over time, that have much worse consequences than we are used to thinking about right now, but the rest will be the same.
I don't mean to underplay the threat, but if we keep pushing this rhetoric, people will discredit the threat when it turns out that 50 years later we're still using antibiotics for most illnesses that people actually get (because antibiotic-resistant strains are effectively quarantined). People will compare it with the "we're going to run out of oil" scare.
- refurb 10y agoYou raise a really good point. Antibiotic resistance doesn't always go up. For example, the rates of MDR gonorrhea have dropped substantially.[1] There are other examples as well. Is it a problem that needs to be addressed? Yes. Is it the end of the world? Unlikely. [1]https://www.poz.com/article/drug-resistant-gonorrhea-25776-2772 https://www.poz.com/article/drug-resistant-gonorrhea-25776-2...
- ogig 10y agoEven the article implies your point. Some fear here and there it's good for the clicks tho. >The strain found in the woman is treatable with some other antibiotics.
- HillaryBriss 10y agosurgery becomes more risky with these antibiotic resistant bacteria circulating in hospitals. so any medical condition that might be improved or even cured by surgery becomes more difficult to handle. surgery may not be such an easy choice to make.
- jrockway 10y agoSurgery is never an easy choice, but infection is always something to worry about. I had jaw surgery last year which was supposed to be an outpatient procedure, but there was a complication and I had to spend the night. My main thought was "oh no, I am probably going to get some weird infection". And indeed I did! A hole opened up between my mouth and nose and it got infected. Augmentin did nothing, but the doctor did a test where they grow a culture and test every antibiotic against it, then prescribe the one that killed it. That cleared up the infection immediately and I am now in perfect health with no unnecessary holes ;) It is really weird how we concentrate all sick people in one place, and then act surprised when they start growing weird diseases.
- mikecsh 10y ago> It is really weird how we concentrate all sick people in one place, and then act surprised when they start growing weird diseases. I don't think anyone finds it that surprising really. But healthcare is expensive and centralising in-patient care is the only practical and affordable system that we have come up with so far! Key things are to maximise hygiene and minimise length of stay :)
- thomyorkie 10y agoYeah, studies show that many healthcare professionals don't wash their hands like they are supposed to. My guess is this is the primary vector for spreading disease in hospitals. I know it's kind of annoying to scrub your hands for 30 seconds multiple times per day, but it really is such a simple fix. On a similar note, I have never once seen someone in my office wash their hands for more than 5 seconds. Also, on several occasions I've seen someone poop and simply run water over their hands for half a second. It boggles my mind.
- burfog 10y ago"seen someone poop and simply run water over their hands" 1. Why were you watching? 2. The anus may need cleaning. The hands are not supposed to need cleaning.
- gerbilly 10y agoWe shouldn't forget that antibiotic resistant bacteria become that way by giving up a metabolic pathway. Calling them 'superbugs' is actually misleading, because the resistant bacteria are usually less efficient. If you remove the exposure to the antibiotic, they will revert back to the wild strain pretty quickly. If we just stopped using antibiotics in agriculture, especially to promote growth, this could actually be possible.
- infinite8s 10y agoThe scary situation will be when they evolve resistance without a reduction in fitness.
- gcr 10y agoHow often does that happen?
- caf 10y agoBacterial illnesses are not trifles now. Bacterial pneumonia, bacterial meningitis and bacterial septicemia all carry a substantial risk of death even in affluent countries with good healthcare systems.