3 ms·
Won't all drugs targeted at microbes fail eventually? Surely they create a strong selective pressure which favours the resistant strains. The wider and more fr
by drchewbacca 7y ago
Won't all drugs targeted at microbes fail eventually? Surely they create a strong selective pressure which favours the resistant strains.
The wider and more frequently the drug is used the faster this process occurs?
- hashmal 7y agoThe targets have time to become resistant when treatment is misused (wrong dosage, interruption, intermittent use, etc)
- bluGill 7y agoThat is a real worry in all areas where chemicals are used to selectively kill something undesired. It isn't just microbes, weed killers have the same problems. There is a real worry that in "a few years" (how long is not defined) antibiotics will cease to be useful and deaths will skyrocket from things we currently considered minor infections. There is some hope though: having a resistant trait is only useful if it helps you survive. Most resistant traits are "costly" to keep around. Thus if we stop using some treatment - completely stop - in 100 years it will likely become useful again as those "microbs" without resistance out compete those with it.