Anti Antibiotics

Photo by Iqbal Osman

Flash back to the pre-penicillin era. A small bacterial infection, something that would today be easily treatable, might be fatal. Exposure to bacteria could be the end and you would have nothing to do about it. Now flash forward to today. Antibiotics are easily available, ready to fight our infections and help make us feel better. With this type of technology at our disposal, why would we hold it back? It’s this exact mindset that has put us in such a dilemma. As Wise says in British Medical Journal, “We cannot conceive a return to the pre-antibiotic days, yet the unbridled use of these agents in man and animals is inexorably propelling us in that direction”(1). Since antibiotics have become extremely overprescribed, bacteria are gaining resistance, and therefore organizations and researchers need to spread knowledge of this issue and limit the number of antibiotics available.

Humans have become extremely dependent on antibiotics. When they are sick, they go to the doctor and expect a prescription that will make them feel better, no matter what their symptoms actually are. Patients don’t realize that antibiotics are meant for bacterial infections, so they insist on a prescription for their viral infections also. This is pointless and just contributes to the growing resistance. According to the British Medical Journal, a majority of antibiotics are prescribed for the respiratory tract, where the vast majority of infections are caused by viral pathogens (1). Doctors need to be stricter in prescriptions. They need to be firm in saying no when the patient is insistent on antibiotics. Although they may feel bad morally for not doing what they are capable of doing to potentially make the patient feel better faster, they need to consider how much worse it would be if the human race gained complete resistance to antibiotics entirely. To add to this, Wise suggests that up to 75% of antibiotic use is of questionable therapeutic value (1). Antibiotics are too important for extreme cases, that if we wipe them out completely with minor cases we would not be ready to live with the consequences.

Humans are not the only ones who are being overprescribed antibiotics. Time magazine estimates that 80% of the antibiotics by weight used in the U.S. are given not to sick human beings, but to farm animals. Farmers give animals antibiotics to ensure their health and strength. The food industry argues that restricting antibiotics in livestock would lead to sicker animals and more expensive meat (2). On the contrary, it is easy to raise strong animals that people would be willing to eat and buy if you’re just going to pump antibiotics in them. However, these measures could be easily avoided in order to prevent the growing resistance. If antibiotics are the norm for these farm animals, doesn’t it make sense that they would eventually adapt to them and gain resistance? The European Union has already banned all antibiotic growth promoters in animal feed (2). American farmers should follow this lead by stopping automatically giving animals antibiotics, and instead use traditional farming techniques to ensure the animals’ strength.

In order to fight the resistance, we need to spread awareness. The dangers need to be told to doctors and farmers alike. People need to know the possible outcomes that may come from our antibiotic overuse. They need to see that we are doing this to ourselves, and that the result could be fatal. Research groups and organizations can promote the issue and let everyone see that this truly is a global issue on our hands. One solution for fighting this problem has been given by CBC News. They suggested that we take the focus off of fighting the use of recreational drugs and instead fight the unnecessary use of antibiotics. CBC News defines these recreational drugs as “illegal narcotics such as heroin and marijuana, illegal stimulants such as cocaine, and legal drugs that people take to relieve pain, reduce anxiety, induce euphoria etc” (3). They argue that the outcome that follows using antibiotics would be extremely worse than that of the misuse of recreational drugs. A potential suggestion for how to fight our dependence on antibiotics is user fees. CBC News quotes professor Anomaly, who suggests that we use these fees for the good of everyone by funding costly research into new antibiotics that are not patentable in the short-term. Anomaly also states his belief that “although individual patients and doctors perceive benefits from antibiotics, it would be better to reserve them for serious infections” (3).

Since we see the problem happening, we have no excuse not to stop it. We know what to do and we know the consequences, so it’s time to take action. By informing others about the dangers and providing possible solutions we are fighting the threat of antibiotic resistance.

Photo by David Kalsbeek

Works Cited

1) Wise R, Hart T, Cars O. 1998. Antimicrobial resistance. British Medicial Journal (**Edition**) [Internet]. [**Last Updated**, cited 2014 Feb 3] 317(7159): 609–610. Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1113826/


2) Walsh B. 2014. New Report Says FDA Allowed "High Risk" Antibiotics to be Used on Farm Animals. Time (**Edition**) [Internet]. [2014 Jan 28, cited 2014 Feb 4] **Journal Info**. Available from: http://science.time.com/2014/01/28/new-report-claims-fda-allowed-high- risk-antibiotics-to-be-used-on-farm-animals/


3) **Author(s)** . 2013. Regulate antibiotics not recreational drugs, ethicist argues. CBC News (**Edition**) [Internet]. [2013 Feb 21, cited 2014] **Journal Info**. Available from: http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/regulate-antibiotics- not-recreational-drugs-ethicist-argues-1.1375414