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Hazards of misuse of antibiotics
For the past sixty years, the use of antibiotic drugs has turned bacterial infections into
treatable conditions, rather than the life-threatening scourges they once were.
Physicians depend on antibiotics such as penicillin, tetracycline, and erythromycin to
treat many illnesses caused by bacteria, from ear and skin infections to pneumonia,
food poisoning, meningitis, and other life-threatening infections. Antibiotics are
crucial in treating infections that may result from medical procedures such as surgery,
chemotherapy and transplants. Today, however, doctors report increasing numbers of
bacterial infections that fail to respond to antibiotic treatment. A federal government
task force recently noted that antibiotic resistance is “a growing menace to all
people,” cautioning that continued spread of resistance means that treatments for
common infections “will become increasingly limited and expensive—and, in some
cases, nonexistent.”
The overuse of antibiotics is to blame.
Although even the most careful use of antibiotics can result in the emergence of
antibiotic-resistant bacteria, widespread and inappropriate use of these precious
drugs greatly accelerates the process.
The more often bacteria are exposed to antibiotics, the more likely that resistance
will develop. Because bacteria reproduce rapidly, sometimes in as little as 20
minutes, it does not take long for antibiotic-resistant bacteria to spread. A major
source of antibiotic overuse is livestock producers unnecessarily feeding antibiotics to
healthy farm animals to promote growth and compensate for unsanitary conditions
found in industrial animal agriculture. The Union of Concerned Scientists estimates
that 70% of all antibiotics in the U.S. are used in healthy pigs, poultry, and beef cattle.
Those antibiotics routinely given to healthy livestock and poultry include many that
are identical, or nearly so, to drugs used in treating humans. Antibiotics have long
been fed to animals because they allow the animals to grow slightly faster on the
same amount of feed, thereby increasing profits for meat producers. The exact
mechanism by which antibiotics promote growth is not known.
Human medical practices also contribute to the overuse of antibiotics.
Often antibiotics are prescribed for patients with illnesses—like the flu or the
common cold—that can’t be treated or cured with antibiotics. In 1995 the U.S.
Office of Technology Assessment estimated that up to half of all antibiotics
prescribed by doctors were prescribed inappropriately. And in hospitals, antibiotic
overuse has been a major factor in causing drug-resistant infections to skyrocket.
Patients also contribute to the problem, by requesting antibiotics when they’re not
needed and by not completing the entire course of antibiotics when prescribed,
which kills off the susceptible bacteria and leaves the more resistant bacteria to
reproduce.
We’re all at risk.
The spread of this new generation of infections resistant to antibiotic treatments has
serious consequences for public health. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria may keep people
sicker longer, and sometimes people are unable to recover at all. Children, the elderly,
and those with weakened immune systems (including cancer, HIV/AIDS, and
transplant patients) are particularly vulnerable because their immune systems are not
as vigorous as those of healthy adults.
Antibiotic Resistance is On the Rise
® Resistant bacterial infections increase health care costs by at least $4 billion per
year in the U.S.
® One out of six cases of Campylobacter infection, the most common cause of food
poisoning, is resistant to fluoroquinolones, the drugs most often used to treat severe
food-borne illness. Just six years ago, before fluoroquinolones were approved for use
in poultry, such resistance was negligible. Campylobacter accounts for 2.4 million
illnesses and over 120 deaths each year in the U.S.
® One out of three cases of human infection by a particular strain of Salmonella
bacteria is resistant to more than five different antibiotics. Salmonella causes 1.4
million illnesses and 580 deaths annually in the U.S.
® Nearly all strains of Staphlococcus infections in the U.S. are resistant to penicillin,
and many are resistant to newer drugs.
How are Drug-Resistant Bacteria Transmitted from Animals to Humans?
People can become infected by eating undercooked contaminated meat, or by eating
other foods or using utensils that have come in contact with meat juices. In addition,
farmers, farm families, and slaughterhouse workers are routinely exposed to
antibiotics or antibiotic-resistant bacteria, or both. Finally, significant quantities of
antibiotics and antibiotic-resistant bacteria enter the environment through the nearly
two trillion pounds of animal wastes produced annually in the U.S. by animal
agriculture operations. Farm waste run-off can enter rivers, lakes, and ground water,
and these wastes are sometimes spread on agricultural fields as fertilizer as well.
What Should Be Done?
A recent study from Denmark, where the use of antibiotics in healthy farm animals
was banned, demonstrates that ending this practice dramatically reduces the levels of
resistant bacteria present in those animals. To keep antibiotics working for people
who need them, we must stop the overuse of antibiotics in healthy pigs, poultry, and
cattle, especially antibiotics that are also used in human medicine. Four steps must be
taken:
1 Congress or the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should phase out the
use of medically important antibiotics in healthy livestock and poultry.
2 Companies involved in the production and marketing of meat and poultry (meat
producers, supermarkets, restaurants, factory farms, etc.) should voluntarily agree to
stop buying or selling meat produced with antibiotics for purposes other than treating
sick animals. A 1999 National Academy of Sciences report estimated that the
elimination of all such uses of antibiotics in poultry, cattle, and swine production
would cost consumers only $5 to $10 per person annually.
3 Congress or FDA should require the collection of accurate data on the production
and use of antibiotics in both human medicine and animal agriculture, and make that
information available to the public.
4 Talk with your doctor to make sure that antibiotics, which work against bacterial
infections, are not prescribed for viral infections such as the cold or flu. Also, take the
full course of any antibiotic, as prescribed.
"It is increasingly clear that as the world becomes a smaller place, with viruses and
other pathogens traveling with great ease, we now face a unique situation. Simply put,
we are now, and will continue to be more exposed to challenges to our health.
However, nature has already provided the immune system as our defense to microbes
found in our environment. The degree to which we are able to educate our immune
systems to recognize invaders will help determine our ability to cope with health
challenges. I urge all people to pay attention to those things that affect their immune
systems."
Antibiotic resistance has been called one of the world’s most pressing public health
problems. It can cause significant danger and suffering for people who have common
infections that once were easily treatable with antibiotics. When antibiotics fail to
work, the consequences are longer-lasting illnesses; more doctor visits or extended
hospital stays; and the need for more expensive and toxic medications. Some resistant
infections can cause death. Sick individuals aren’t the only people who can suffer the
consequences. Families and entire communities feel the impact when disease-causing
germs become resistant to antibiotics. These antibiotic-resistant bacteria can quickly
spread to family members, school mates and co-workers — threatening the
community with a new strain of infectious disease that is more difficult to cure and
more expensive to treat." CDC Dangers of Antibiotic Resistance.
The most common side effects with antibiotic drugs are diarrhoea, feeling sick and
being sick. Fungal infections of the mouth, digestive tract and vagina can also occur
with antibiotics because they destroy the protective 'good' bacteria in the body (which
help prevent overgrowth of any one organism), as well as the 'bad' ones, responsible
for the infection being treated.
Rare, but more serious side effects, include the formation of kidney stones with the
sulphonamides, abnormal blood clotting with some of the cephalosporins, increased
sensitivity to the sun with the tetracyclines, blood disorders with trimethoprim, and
deafness with erythromycin and the aminoglycosides.
Sometimes, particularly in older people, antibiotic treatment can cause a type of
colitis (inflamed bowel) leading to severe diarrhoea. Penicillins, cephalosporins and
erythromycin can all cause this problem but it is most common with clindamycin, an
antibiotic usually reserved for serious infections. If you develop diarrhoea while
taking an antibiotic, immediately contact your doctor.
Some people are allergic to antibiotics, particularly penicillins, and can develop Side
effects such as a rash, swelling of the face and tongue, and difficulty breathing when
they take them. Always tell your doctor or pharmacist if you have had an allergic
reaction to an antibiotic; sometimes the reaction can be serious or even fatal. This is
called an anaphylactic reaction.
Antibiotics are a common cause of Candida. Antibiotics destroy both harmful bacteria
and good bacteria. When antibiotics destroy friendly bacteria it gives the Candida a
chance to begin to multiply. Anyone who has been treated with antibiotics for acne,
major dental work or any condition where antibiotic use has been frequent, more than
1 course of 7-10 days, is a prime candidate for Candida. safe natural candida treatment
Doctors fear that if antibiotic use is not curtailed, we may soon approach the day
when untreatable infections are rampant. In Beyond Antibiotics, Drs. Schmidt, Smith,
and Sehnert explore the problems presented by the overuse of these drugs. More
importantly, they show how to build immunity, improve resistance to infections, and
avoid antibiotics when possible.
When penicillin and other wonder drugs revolutionized Western medicine in the
1940s and '50s, it seemed as though every infectious illness could be cured with a few
pills or injections. But half a century after it began, the golden age of antibiotics is
ending with the alarming news that the drugs that were supposed to save the world
have instead spawned an epidemic that may destroy it.
In 1988 in a New York City hospital, the first strains of vancomycin-resistant
enterococci (VRE) appeared, and between September 1989 and October 1991, 38
New York hospitals reported VRE infections, 98 percent of which were contracted
during the patient's hospital stay. Soon hospitals in New Jersey, Connecticut and other
states began reporting VRE infections, and the problem quickly spread to other
countries. VRE infections are now a worldwide problem.
Nearly all VRE infections are acquired in hospitals. The longer the hospital stay, the
greater the risk. Although the risk is highest in intensive care units, VRE infections in
hospitals have been traced to nearly every patient-occupied area. Individuals
previously treated with vancomycin or combination antibiotic therapy have an
increased risk of developing VRE. Those with a serious disease or suppressed
immune system or who undergo abdominal surgery are at increased risk. Most VRE
infections occur in patients 41 to 60 years old, but they can affect people of any age.
VRE infections are virtually untreatable using conventional methods. Even if
combination antibiotics appear to be effective, the patient soon has a relapse more
virulent than the original infection. A 1995 study at Albert Einstein College of
Medicine in New York found that when VRE infections spread to the blood
(bacteriemia), the in-hospital death rate was 100 percent. VRE infections are now the
second leading cause of infections acquired in hospitals.
Hospitals are not the only breeding ground for new versions of old pathogens. As the
New York Times explained on January 24, 1999, previously unknown bacteria and
viruses are blooming in the earth's warming oceans, killing marine life and
threatening human health. At that week's national meeting of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science, researchers reported that dying coral,
diseased shellfish and ocean waters infected with human viruses are symptoms of a
rapidly growing global problem. According to the organization, new studies show that
vast colonies of human viruses migrate regularly into Florida's coastal waters from the
state's 1.6 million septic tanks, and many people are becoming infected with viruses
picked up while swimming, windsurfing or boating in infected waters. One study
found that almost 25 percent of the people using marine beaches developed ear
infections, sore throats, sore eyes, respiratory infections or gastrointestinal disease.
Some of the viruses detected in coastal waters are linked to heart disease, diabetes,
meningitis and hepatitis. “Most people who come in contact with these viruses do not
get ill,” said Joan B. Rose, a researcher at the University of South Florida, “but of the
20 to 24 percent who do, about 1 percent become chronically infected.” Rose's
research team traced the migration of viruses from septic tanks and found that
pathogens infect coastal waters within 24 hours of being flushed down toilets. Storms
that churn ocean water speed the process. Many of the viruses that infect humans
directly or through the eating of contaminated shellfish cannot be detected by the
routine monitoring of water pollution. Other researchers at the meeting said that the
increase in pathogens in the world's oceans may be linked to a 1.8-degree rise in
ocean surface temperatures detected in many areas. Warmer water kills algae on coral,
weakening the coral and making it more susceptible to infection. more - From Well
Being Journal Vol. 9, No. 1 ~ January/February 2000
Antibiotic Crisis, Antibiotic Alternatives
Chaitow discusses the current antibiotic crisis in terms of the damage done to friendly
bacteria, the damage to our immune systems and the ecological damage caused by the
overprescription of antibiotics. Antibiotic resistant bacteria (Superbugs) are
proliferating, and it is time to consider alternative ways of fighting infection. These
include herbs like Echinacea, vitamins and minerals, yoghurt and friendly bacteria,
hydrotherapy, acupuncture, fasting, other ways of immune enhancement, lifestyle
factors, detoxification and various mind-body factors. Stressors that have a damaging
effect on friendly intestinal bacteria include medicines, drugs, stress, a high fat and
high sugar diet, smoking, excess alcohol, environmental pollutants, radiation
(including X-rays) and immune deficiencies. The book tells you what to do if you
have to take antibiotics - this includes supplementing with the friendly bacteria like
Bifidobacterium Bifidum, Lactobacillus Longum, Bifidobacterium Longum,
Lactobacillus Bulgaricus and Streptococcus Thermophilus. This is a practical and
helpful guide to all who are concerned about maintaining optimal health. The book
concludes with 12 pages of references and a thorough index.
Antibiotics are totally ineffective against viruses. The excuse most often heard for
prescribing antibiotics in a viral illness is to prophylactically protect the body against
a secondary bacterial infection. This is an idea proven to be false decades ago. In the
United States, of the 5 most common antibiotics prescribed, three are broad spectrum.
That's a problem!
By altering the normal terrain of the intestines, antibiotics can also make food
allergies more likely. An array of intestinal disorders can ensue, as well. Sadly, most
doctors claim ignorance concerning their patients’ intestinal disorders rather than
admit that the drugs they themselves prescribed actually caused the disorders to begin
with. Tons of antibiotics are fed to American livestock on a daily basis, purportedly to
proof them against bacteria. This practice not only possibly contributes to antibiotic
resistance in humans -- many experts feel weight gain, and not disease prevention, is
the real reason antibiotics are so widely used. Fat cattle sell for more than thin cattle.
That’s all very well, but imagine what the antibiotics thereby possibly present in dairy
products could be doing to our children’s health.
"Are Antibiotics still effective? The period once euphemistically called the Age of the
Miracle Drug is now dead. And the indiscriminate use of antibiotics is leading us to
one of the most frightening eras in recent memory. That is, the return of infectious
diseases for which there is no effective treatment. Two decades following the
introduction of antibiotics, the medical community began to see a disturbing trend.
Bacterial infections that were once treatable no longer responded to antibiotics.
Penicillin is effective today against only 10 percent of the strains of Staphylococcus
aureus that it used to eradicate easily. Those that did respond often required five to ten
times the dose of the drug that previously was effective. One example of this is the
resistant strains of gonorrhea that developed as a result of the antibiotics that were
used to treat it."
Flesh-eating Disease
Flesh-eating disease is the common name for necrotizing fasciitis (nek-roe-tie-zing
fah-shee-eye-tis), an infection that works its way rapidly through the layers of tissue
(the fascia) that surround muscles. It destroys tissue and can cause death within 12 to
24 hours. It is estimated that there are between 90 and 200 cases per year in Canada,
and about 20 to 30 percent of these are fatal.
The symptoms of flesh-eating disease include a high fever, and a red, severely painful
swelling that feels hot and spreads rapidly. The skin may become purplish and then
die. There may be extensive tissue destruction. Sometimes the swelling starts at the
site of a minor injury, such as a small cut or bruise, but in other cases there is no
obvious source of infection. Flesh-eating disease can be caused by a number of
different bacteria, including group A streptococcus (GAS). GAS is a very common
bacteria. Many people carry it in the throat or on their skin without getting sick. It is
the same bacteria that causes strep throat, and can also cause impetigo, scarlet fever
and rheumatic fever. In rare instances, GAS will cause serious illnesses, including
pneumonia, meningitis, blood poisoning (bacteremia), streptococcal toxic-shock
syndrome and flesh-eating disease.
However, some risk factors have been identified, including:
A weakened immune system, which could be caused by such factors as
disease (HIV infection, AIDS), cancer treatments (radiation and
chemotherapy), or by taking anti-rejection drugs following an organ or bonemarrow transplant;
Chronic diseases, including heart, lung or liver disease;
Recent close contact with someone who has flesh-eating disease that was
caused by GAS; and
Chickenpox- it should be noted, however, that while flesh-eating disease is a
complication of chickenpox in children, very few children with chickenpox
will develop flesh-eating disease.