Experts Warn of Antibiotic Resistance Pandemic

Kenneth Miller
3:55 PM
09/19/08



Experts warn that vital medical processes such as organ transplants and cancer therapy will be threatened if antibiotic immunity is not dealt with soon. Specialist in antibiotics report that a global effort is needed to handle to the ever rising immunity of disease to antibiotics. Antibiotics by nature lose a degree of effectiveness when used, however the diminishing effect of late has cause for alarm. Of the dozens of classes of antibiotics developed, only 2 have been of recent age since the 70s. According to European Center of Disease officials, the largest and infectious threat in Europe are diseases that have become immune to antibiotic treatments, and this kind of resistance could cause the next health catastrophe. It is believed the lack for a response to this rising issue, is that antibiotics are over prescribed and illegally sold in great numbers. They believe the threat of antibiotic resistance does not draw as much attention as the adverse effects of releasing antibiotics into economies. To further add to the problem there are issues with new antibiotic development, such as development of new mechanisms of action, and the need for safeguarding new antibiotics to help handle their over-prescription, thus avoiding this mistake in the future. Reducing consumer demand is what they believe to be the best strategy to avoid over-prescription. This is to be done with self education and moderation. Ultimately experts believe the responsibility is on national governments to give appropriate attention to the issues, and develop new antibiotics to combat resistance.


I guess this article wasn't so much something I hadn't hear before, as it was something you just don't think about often. Personally, I ward away from using prescription drugs, or for that matter medicine of any sort, just because suffering the bad symptoms eventually leads to a stronger immunity system. I cannot however, say so much for the pill popping culture society has become. I mean it's really pretty absurd that parents are running to stores to buy pounds of medicine to shoot their kids up on just because they have a sniffle. Then what happens? Kid never learns to handle the sickness or develop an immunity, and then is permanently susceptible to the disease because not even the drugs work anymore. Its not uncommon to walk in a crowded room, ask for an Ibuprofen, and half the room pulls out bottles of this rather heavy drug. It's everyday accessibility and even worse the social acceptance of the drug use. And this doesn't even count for antibiotics alone. People would rather just jack their kids up on antidepressants, ADHD meds, and every other pill under the rainbow, rather then simply learning to cope with the issue and train the child otherwise. I have no doubts the experts are correct in their prediction, I just hope, for our drug addicts sakes, that a new form of defense is developed, or else that "New age health catastrophe" will be a lot more real than I think anyone would like to consider.