Antibiotics, A Time Bomb In The Making …

[David48]

Antibiotics, a Time Bomb in the making …

Today is the anniversary of the death of Alexander Fleming ... Who you might ask ?

Virtually as soon as he discovered penicillin he predicted the demise of
antibiotics, his words are now possibly coming true.

It's terrifying to think that within 20 years we could lose the ability to
fight bacterial infections. It may well sound futuristic, even a bit of a scare
story but equally is too big a risk to take.

Almost assuredly we've all had some type of bacterial infection before,

and it strikes me that tropical climates such as Thailand have more than

their fair share of aggressive infections.

The best thing we can do as individuals is commit to completing every course
we are ever given, otherwise we're at risk of paying far too high a price
later.

One of my friends picked up a serious eye infection in Thailand that
took months of hospital visits in his home country to fix. These specialist doctors
expressed amazement at how virulent, ( off the scale ) the infection was.

What's your experience been?

BTW.......my mate still insists it wasn't red eye, a likely story if ever I heard one ...

.

[BookMan]

There needs to be less subscribing of antibiotics for illnesses that cannot be treated by the medicine, such as viruses. Too many people wrongly believe that antibiotics fixes anything

[smokie36]

Same happened to an acquaintance of mine...reckons through sharing snorkels.

Mind you he fell off his bike and broke his leg too.

I think he's a bit accident prone!

[cooked]

Yes, since the atom bomb threat disappeared I haven't had a good worry for a bit, everybody needs a good worry.

[jbrain]

Yes, since the atom bomb threat disappeared I haven't had a good worry for a bit, everybody needs a good worry.

Don't worry, the atom bomb threat is alive and well, from some Kim Young Nuts are something

[h90]

There needs to be less subscribing of antibiotics for illnesses that cannot be treated by the medicine, such as viruses. Too many people wrongly believe that antibiotics fixes anything

First of all even doctors give antibiotics for a flu and second in Thailand some people eat antibiotics like sweets for ever small problem....

Third and maybe biggest problem is feeding animals, prawns, chicken, cows, pigs huge amounts to increase production.

[kevvy]

i got mrsa (staph ) by getting a small cut on my arm. went to hospital 4 days later with pains in my back. then was admitted , woke up 3 weeks later in ICU the disease shut down all my body functions including my heart. was on kidney dialysis, then the disease attack my bones . was in hospital for 5 months . was very lucky to survive. the disease is now immune to most penicillin's . my life has changed so much in the last 4 years .cannot work , cannot even walk a long time without pain.. i pray to god that no one i know or anyone on TV gets it. this happened in melbourne

[h90]

kevvy, on 11 Mar 2013 - 21:31, said:

i got mrsa (staph ) by getting a small cut on my arm. went to hospital 4 days later with pains in my back. then was admitted , woke up 3 weeks later in ICU the disease shut down all my body functions including my heart. was on kidney dialysis, then the disease attack my bones . was in hospital for 5 months . was very lucky to survive. the disease is now immune to most penicillin's . my life has changed so much in the last 4 years .cannot work , cannot even walk a long time without pain.. i pray to god that no one i know or anyone on TV gets it. this happened in melbourne

That is scary....

No way I would go with a small cut to the doc...so I would end exactly the same as you. Scary when thinking about it.

[h90]

jbrain, on 11 Mar 2013 - 20:20, said:

cooked, on 11 Mar 2013 - 20:14, said:

Yes, since the atom bomb threat disappeared I haven't had a good worry for a bit, everybody needs a good worry.

Don't worry, the atom bomb threat is alive and well, from some Kim Young Nuts are something

not really....but we can worry a bit about the global warming, at least until it is replaced with the next thing....

Antibiotics resistant is long known. It isn't a "we will all die" killer but it is a big hassle....Needs much more expensive antibiotics or some with much bigger side effects or in a few rare cases people will die from it. And the problem is increasing.

[kevvy]

kevvy, on 11 Mar 2013 - 21:31, said:

i got mrsa (staph ) by getting a small cut on my arm. went to hospital 4 days later with pains in my back. then was admitted , woke up 3 weeks later in ICU the disease shut down all my body functions including my heart. was on kidney dialysis, then the disease attack my bones . was in hospital for 5 months . was very lucky to survive. the disease is now immune to most penicillin's . my life has changed so much in the last 4 years .cannot work , cannot even walk a long time without pain.. i pray to god that no one i know or anyone on TV gets it. this happened in melbourne

That is scary....

No way I would go with a small cut to the doc...so I would end exactly the same as you. Scary when thinking about it.

i got the cut , and 4 days later went to ,hospital because of back pain.it is known as a "superbug"

[Forethat]

There needs to be less subscribing of antibiotics for illnesses that cannot be treated by the medicine, such as viruses. Too many people wrongly believe that antibiotics fixes anything

First of all even doctors give antibiotics for a flu and second in Thailand some people eat antibiotics like sweets for ever small problem....

Third and maybe biggest problem is feeding animals, prawns, chicken, cows, pigs huge amounts to increase production.

Not "Third and maybe biggest problem", but BY FAR the biggest problem is antibiotics administered to animals. Last number I heard was 80% of all antibiotics is for livestock production.

[Fgis]

First we should all stop eating meat and especially pork.

50% of the antibiotics used in the world are given to animals that we eat.

Industrial food companies are killing us softly and some stupid doctors in the west tell us to be careful with antibiotics...

[Dancealot]

The more antibiotics you use, the more resistant you become. This is why here in Holland it's only available with a doctors' acknowledgement.

100 years seems ample time for antibody's to be able to adapt to become resistant.

Louis Pasteur was on it to counter this 'effect'. Sadly he applied his discovery on MILK.

http://dwb.unl.edu/Teacher/NSF/C11/C11Links/ambafrance.org/HYPERLAB/PEOPLE/_pasteur.html

While in my opinion he should have applied the power of pasteurization to those precious antibiotics we have all come to grown accustomed to.

We need a new and better super penicillin. And know they are working on this right now, day in and day out. Wonder what they will come up with; a cell regeneration katalysator perhaps?

[MrHammer]

Sensationalist nonsense. Yest, I was worried when I heard about it, yet scientists will continue to make new breakthroughs. Our current scientific is to great to not be able to beat this thing.

Chinese scientists have already found and syntetized a compound in panda blood which not only kills superbugs but does it in one hour as compared to 6 hours currently.

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-01/02/giant-panda-blood-antibiotic

What needs to be done is for hospitals to take cleaning seriously and for farms to stop using antibiotics at that great a scale.

[Loptr]

Are you ready to be really scared?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/mar/11/superbugs-antibiotics-bacterial-diseases-infections

New wave of 'superbugs' poses dire threat, says chief medical officer

Warning over rising death toll as antibiotics fail to tackle rising incidence of 'gram negative' bacterial diseases

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria with the potential to cause untreatable infections pose "a catastrophic threat" to the population, England's chief medical officer warns in a report calling for urgent action worldwide.

[Potosi]

Why would a doctor prescribe antibiotics when he diagnoses a viral infection? Certainly only happens when the cause of an infection is indistinct. Nothing to worry about, there will be engineering of phages, virae that destroy bacteria. And medical nannites. Pharmaceuticals could become obsolete.

[David48]

I believe one of the major problems is a attitude to antibiotics in general,

especially my observed behaviour in Thailand.

Previously, the antibiotic would easily kill the germ ... if the entire course of antibiotics were taken.

But if they were stopped early and a few of the stronger germs survived, they would a genetic disposition to resistance to the drug.

This new slightly resistant strain, then goes on to develop a further resistance when the patients behaviour above is repeated time and time again. It's a natural selection process to select the strongest germs.

From what I see of the Thais are the dispensing of a limited number of the drug (supplying a few tablets as opposed to an entire course), maybe due to cost constraints and the problem reoccurs.

When the next antibiotic is developed ... a stronger type, and the above patient action happens ... we have a new, stronger drug resistant strain and the previous antibiotic is now ineffective.

A time bomb in the making ...

[chrisinth]

Same happened to an acquaintance of mine...reckons through sharing snorkels.

Mind you he fell off his bike and broke his leg too.

I think he's a bit accident prone!

Have to ask,why was he wearing/sharing a snorkel when riding a bike?

[NeverSure]

I guess I have more faith in science than some. New drugs come out all of the time. A good example is that HIV is no longer necessarily a death sentence.

Now we have new nations with first class abilities to develop drugs such as China and India. People are working around the clock.

I do agree with the overuse, and the using on animals, and the failure to take the full course. I also agree that third world nations allow it to be bought over the counter, but first world countries allow farmers to buy it from the farm supply.

I can drive 4 miles to the "feed and seed" Grange co-op and buy syringes, penicillin and some other antibiotics for animals without a prescription. With that being true in the US, I hate to tell you what I can buy over the counter in Mexico just by driving over the border.

When people don't have quick access to a doctor, then the pharmacist becomes the doctor, and has a financial interest in selling whatever.

[kevvy]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-08-12/superbug-cases-emerge-in-australia/942258

The paper also warned that India's role as a global hub for low-cost
cosmetic surgery was "likely" to allow NDM-1 superbugs to "spread
worldwide".

Professor Collignon said unlike other superbugs
commonly found in Australian hospitals - such as Methicillin Resistant
Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) - there were no new drugs in the pipeline
to tackle NDM-1 superbugs.

"This is not the end of the world for
Australia tomorrow, but over the medium to long term it is a problem,"
Professor Collignon said.

"We have to do what we can to stop these
bugs from coming into Australia - we need to be aware that people may
be carrying these bugs if they have come from a [foreign] hospital."

Professor Collignon said Australians should be more aware of the risks when contemplating surgery in a foreign country.

[MrHammer]

So once again immigration from the filthy third world is going to cost the West how much?

[David48]

Antibiotics resistance 'more important than terrorism'

An Australian infectious diseases expert agrees with Britain's top health official that resistance to antibiotics is as great a risk to public safety as terrorism.

Dame Sally Davies, the chief medical officer for England, says antimicrobial resistance poses a
catastrophic threat, and routine operations could become deadly in just 20 years unless new antibiotic drugs are discovered.

Professor Peter Collignon from the Australian National University agrees the threat posed by antibiotics resistance is very real.

"It is just as important as terrorism and I actually think more important," he told the ABC.

"The reality is common things we take for granted - like bowel surgery, like treating people with leukaemia - if we don't have antibiotics that work we can no longer do those."

Dame Sally says new drugs are needed to stop the "ticking time bomb", as bacterial infections increasingly evolve into "superbugs" resistant to existing drugs.

Professor Collignon says that for a lot of people in the world, the "bomb has already exploded".

HERE

[tolsti]

I recently spent 2 weeks in ICU of a well known international hospital here in Phuket, undergoing a very serious emergency operation, Following that I spent further 5 weeks in a joint venture Mission hospital.

During that time I was given antibiotics by the armful until one day the doctor looking after me said..... " these antibiotics are really working" ......my reply was that I had not taken antibiotics for at least 10 years ....

That's why ...was his response.... This has really shortened your return home time.

[wilcopops]

How many on this thread have been given antibiotics when they had a cold?

IT'S A VIRUS!!!!!

[wilcopops]

PS Flemmings role in antibiotics has been greatly exaggerated.