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Strep Bacteria Resistant to New Antibiotic
Aaron Rowe writes "MSNBC and The Lancet medical journal have reported that the new oxazolidinone antibiotic Zyvox is ineffective against some forms of Staphylococcus aureus."
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Looking through my roomate's things, I find:
* Anti-bacterial deoderant
* Anti-bacterial shower soap bar
* Anti-bacterial toothpaste
* Anti-bacterial mouthwash
* Anti-bacterial liquid hand soap
* Anti-bacterial hand lotion (why?!)
Of course, what exactly is the anti-bacterial agent in these products? Is it a true antibiotic, or simply some kind of cell-killing agent like bleach?
I doubt that the super-expensive "magic bullet" antibiotics that we're afraid of germs getting immune to aren't in these products, so they're really contributing to adapted bacteria. Or so I'd guess.
No, not all antibiotics are the same, and I hope I didn't sound like I was saying that resistence to one particular drug or class of drugs meant resistance to all of them. However, as the effectiveness of the drug used in these products declines, it will be replaced by one that still works.
...bronchitis.
Yes, over-prescribing is a huge deal. I realize I made it sound like it's largely antibiotic deoderant, my bad. I was just trying to get across that it's up to *us* to turn down antibiotics unless neccesary.
The real danger is over prescribing of effective antibiotics in unnecessary cases. How many times have you taken antibiotics for a cold? for the flu?
My mom is one of those people are generally try to avoid prescriptions, antibiotics and generally any drug unless the doc says that it's quite needed. It's a somewhat irrational fear, but grounded in fact. I've personally never taken antibiotics for a cold, flu, or brochitis (only had it once).
Working toward a usable PDA environment in the spirit of Newton OS: Dynapad
Let's not overlook the most common use of anitbiotics in the US: Feed supplements for live stock. To get an idea of exactly why, look into the system of feedlots as described in _Fast_Food_Nation_. There's some other recent works in the NY Times critical of the beef industry worth reading. The short of it is that because we're raising cattle so contrary to how they evolved, the majority of cattle are susecptible to infections that they never used to get. To control this feedlot operators mix fairly alarming amounts of antibiotics into the feed they give the animals. Although no one's proven a conclusive link to livestock being fed antibiotics and the emergence of resistant bacteria, outfits like the CDC are very worried about the situation. Now I'm not a PETA type, but this alone makes me revaluate my eating habits in terms their long range affects. BTW, I picked up some free range beef recently, and man was that some good stuff. Alternatives exist even if they are more expensive.