We must listen to health warnings and stop being idiots over-using antibiotics as health bosses warn of a drug-resistant apocalypse —
Public Health England have told Brits to use antibiotics as the last option when they are suffering with the common cold or flu
HALLOWEEN – the season of scary movies about mass killers or catastrophes that threaten to wipe out millions of lives.
But if we don’t wake up to the urgent threat now facing humanity, soon we won’t just be watching the nightmare but living it.
The mass killers on our horizon are superbugs that are resistant to all antibiotics.
They threaten to kill millions of people every year — unless we prevent that catastrophe by acting now.
It is less than 100 years since Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, the first antibiotic.
In the greatest understatement in history, he remarked, “That’s funny” when he saw something different to expected in his Petri dish.
It was a moment that transformed medicine, saving tens of millions of lives.
A new battleground was created in the human body — between deadly bacteria and drugs that could kill them.
But over time, the more mankind used antibiotics, the more bacteria became resistant to them.
In a microscopic example of survival of the fittest, the bacteria which aren’t killed by the drugs reproduce and become stronger. Eventually this leads to drug-resistant superbugs, which make antibiotics about as effective as swallowing Tic Tacs.
These bugs are spreading fast. A drug called Colistin is known as the “antibiotic of last resort” because it has always worked when other antibiotics fail.
But at a conference of US medics this month, it was revealed that a bacteria immune even to Colistin has spread rapidly across the world in the past 18 months.
In the battle between bacteria and antibiotics, the bacteria are gaining ground.
Imagine if a simple shaving cut could get infected and kill you. Surgery of any kind would be a massive roll of the dice.
Even Caesarians would become a death trap. Chemotherapy? Organ transplants?
Too risky without antibiotics to boost or suppress the immune system. We’d be cast back to the days of Victorian medicine.
A recent government report suggested that if we don’t get a grip, we could be looking at ten million people dying a year worldwide.
The UK’s Chief Medical Officer, Dame Sally Davies, has talked of a “post-antibiotic apocalypse”.
Before you jump in front of the nearest bus, here’s the good news. It is within our power to win this battle.
But we need to stop over-using antibiotics and start developing new ones.
Doctors must stop handing them out like sweeties at a kids’ party — and we’ve got to stop rushing straight to the GP for some magic medicine.
Never mind if the doctor says it probably won’t help. Never mind if you’ve just got a virus, which antibiotics cannot treat. We are living in the age of the quick fix and you want to get better now.
But sometimes there is no quick fix.
As Public Health England has suggested, those feeling ill should start with paracetamol and putting their feet up.
When antibiotics are necessary, it is vital to complete the course. The drugs need the chance to do a proper job on the bacteria — or the risk of superbugs increases.
Farmers must curb their use of antibiotics too. For decades they were chucked down the necks of animals to boost growth, making cows and pigs into giant Petri dishes for new superbugs.
WHAT ANTIBIOTICS ARE GOOD FOR
- Urinary track infections
- Chlamydia
- Chest infections
- Strep throat
- Lyme disease
The practice has been banned in Europe for more than a decade but this hasn’t led to a significant decrease in antibiotic use.
Meanwhile in China, for example, the use of antibiotics for animal growth is rife. The Government needs to apply more global pressure to stamp this out –— and make sure UK farmers are also not over-using the drugs.
Most importantly, we need scientists to develop new drugs. At the moment it’s not worth pharmaceutical companies investing in research.
Antibiotics are not profitable because they are only used for a short time. Some drugs companies don’t even bother researching antibiotics because they will never make their money back. No new antibiotic has been created since the 1980s and at the moment we are only improving existing ones.
WHAT ANTIBIOTICS ARE NOT GOOD FOR
- Common cold
- Flu
- Toothache
- Bronchitis
- Skin abscess
- Sinus infections
To overcome this, governments around the world need to join up, create a major pot of cash and offer incentives for antibiotic research.
The cost of doing nothing will be far greater.
Over the course of history, mankind has shown a remarkable ability to overcome threats facing us.
But we cannot be complacent that something will “turn up” to fight the superbugs. It is up to all of us to fight antibiotic resistance and, where possible, put down those pills.
Not just for our own sake — but for our children and grandchildren too.
DISCOVERY WAS MEDICAL MIRACLE
TRACES of the common antibiotic tetracycline have been found in the skeletons of ancient Egyptians from 350 to 550 AD.
It is thought they had been brewing it into their beers to ward off infectious diseases.
The use of bacteria to fight infections was taken to a new level in 1928 when Alexander Fleming accidentally discovered penicillin.
He had left an uncovered Petri dish near an open window in his lab and it grew mouldy overnight.
The growth had inhibited the bacteria already in the dish.
Penicillin was mass-produced in 1943 and was used heavily to treat Allied troops during World War Two.
Dozens of other antibiotic strains were later discovered by scientists, leading to a golden era from the 1950s to the 1970s where the drugs were used to treat most infections.
But their overuse has led to an increase in deadly resistant superbugs including MRSA.
