antibiotics

An ongoing effort of mine is to fight the misuse of antibiotics. Misuse of antibiotics has been an increasing health hazard for people, leading to many strains of antibiotic resistant bacteria that infect, and sometimes kill, people, particularly children, the elderly and the immunocompromised. Last time I wrote about this I was able to report a victory in the fight to keep antibiotics effective. Today I want to introduce the latest fight.

First, for those who want more background, the Union of Concerned Scientists has an excellent rundown. An excerpt from their site:

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are on the rise. Patients once effectively treated for pneumonia, tuberculosis, or ear infections may now have to try three or more antibiotics before they find one that works. And as more bacterial strains develop resistance, more people will die because effective antibiotics are not identified quickly enough or because the bacteria causing the disease are resistant to all available antibiotics.

Why have bacterial strains become resistant? The short answer is overuse of antibiotics. Physicians and hospitals have overprescribed the drugs, and patients have demanded them—even for illnesses not caused by bacteria. Veterinarians, too, overprescribe drugs to treat sick animals.

Antibiotics, their misuse and the risk of antibiotic resistant bacteria, have been things I have blogged about before at some length (e.g. here). My main focus has been the misuse of antibiotics in agriculture: the routine use of antibiotics in animal feed. This practice is considered one of the main reasons why there has been such an increase in antibiotic resistant bacteria in recent years.

But an article on BBC discussing medical treatments that are known to be ineffective reminded me of another source of selective pressure for the evolution of antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria: misuse of antibiotics in people.

As a parent, I know full well the dread one feels when a child's eye starts looking red and oozy. That discharge in the corner of the eye tells you it is that dreaded ailment known as "pinkeye." Nothing to do but stay home from work and try to get a doctor's appointment...and start washing your hands like you have OCD to prevent spreading the germs.

You finally get to see the doctor, he takes one look, declares it pink eye...then prescribes antibiotics.

And therein is the problem. Antibiotics don't really work for pinkeye...it is a waste of money, effort in giving the poor mite drops, and it adds to the selective pressure for the evolution of antibiotic resistant bacteria, creating an actual health hazard.