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One of the bright spots is that it seems hard for bacteria to evolve more than one resistance, and that resistances don't confer an evolutionary benefit in the
by bayesianhorse 12y ago
One of the bright spots is that it seems hard for bacteria to evolve more than one resistance, and that resistances don't confer an evolutionary benefit in the absence of the specific antibiotics.
There are modern techniques to avoid resistance issues. For example, as most diseases can be treated by more than one drug, switching them regularly in a hospital or practice.
There are other combinations of drugs which haven't been used a lot or not even been discovered yet. It would be nice for example to trick an infection into letting go of the resistance and then attacking it with the AB.
- mnw21cam 12y ago> One of the bright spots is that it seems hard for bacteria to evolve more than one resistance Not sure where you got that impression. There are bacteria out there that are basically resistant to every antibiotic we have. The article even gave an example of a case where someone died because of this. > There are modern techniques to avoid resistance issues. Yes, true, and it is right that we should implement these techniques. However, until the whole world plays along there are going to be problems. If sub-clinical or too frequent doses of antibiotics are given somewhere in the world, then antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria will develop, and can be transmitted across borders.
- bayesianhorse 12y agoYes there are multiply resistant strains. But due to chance and evolution, they are spreading slowly. This is still a dangerous issue... just not as bad as if the multiply resistant bugs sprang up all over the place like single-resistant ones do.
- GFK_of_xmaspast 12y agoThey call it "MRSA" because it's "Multiply Resistant".