It is Time to go Anti-Antibiotics

A couple times a year local and national mass media put the spotlight on problems connected to antibiotic overuse. Some people consider those problems to be real and serious, and others think that the discussed topics are nothing more than new “fashionable” subjects to talk about, distracting people from “real” problems, such as climbing gas prices or war expenses. Meanwhile, antibiotic overuse continues as a common practice among US doctors and agribusinesses for the last 20 years. The practice of antibiotic overuse has put patient’s health at risk, contributed to antibiotic resistance and increased bacterial mutation to a new, stronger level; as well as it hitting the economy with new costly expenses in health care. It is time to stop

Antibiotics differ from many other drugs in the fact that the treatment is for a very short time compared to drugs used to treat hypertension, diabetes, Parkinson’s, or cancer. The latter disorders have in common that the treatment, from the moment of diagnosis, is life-long. The treatment period for antibiotics is only a few weeks, making the return of investment poor. Increasing demands of authorities in both development and marketing phase and in legislation increase the costs of new antibiotics.[1] [3]

Research has revealed how overprescribing antibiotic creates several adverse outcomes, including the development of multidrug resistant organisms, Clostridium difficile infection, and increased costs of health care (Myung et al., 2015). The Consumer Report (2015) raised concern for the overuse of antibiotics and how it leads to the loss of the ability to treat serious infections. Doctors,

Antibiotics-resistant organisms have become one of the most serious threats to public health, infecting over two million people and killing approximately 23,000 people annually.1 According to the CDC, “total inappropriate antibiotic use,” such as prescribing unnecessary antibiotics or giving the wrong dose or duration, makes up to 50% of all outpatient antibiotic use,2,3 and in 2009, the United States spent $10.7 billion on antibiotics, indicating that there is a lot of potential money to save.4

With all of our modern advances, it seems somewhat strange that chronic health problems have become so commonplace. When antibiotics were discovered, they predicted the end of disease. Instead, we now have a world full of frightening antibiotic resistant infections.

Widespread use of antibiotics has been very controversial in the media as well in the general population. Due to these controversies, it is very misunderstood to how antibiotics work leading to many patients in the hospital setting wanting to take them when it is not necessary or refusing to take when it is necessary for their survival. Some of this controversy is due to antibiotic resistance, which has spread an alarming rate in the 21st century (Walsh, 2000). Antibiotic resistance is the result of very strong bacteria or microbes that are resistant to the antibiotic prescribed and those microbes accumulate overtime by their survival, reproduction and transfer, leading to increased levels of antibiotic resistance.

The book, Missing Microbes, by Martin J. Blaser, MD, was a very different read, then our other book, The Creative Destruction of Medicine, by Eric Topol, MD. In this book Dr. Blaser discusses the overuse of antibiotics and how it is affecting the United States. The United States has had a major increase in the prevalence of chronic diseases and Dr. Blaser explains the reasoning. The advancement of medicine and the increase use seems to be causing more harm than good in today’s society. Dr. Blaser discusses how the use of antibiotics and drugs to treat different illnesses may also be causing long-term effects on people’s lives. Dr. Blaser believes that our missing microbes may have something to do with main chronic diseases such as: allergies, asthma, cancers, diabetes, and obesity. These are the main diseases causing havoc on our population today affecting all of our families in some form or fashion. Dr. Blaser backs his theory by providing evidence and facts to prove his theory. The belief of Dr. Blaser based on this book could cause harm to some of us who are trying to be allied health professionals, not only in the future but also now. The effects has even trickled into agriculture with the animals being pumped with antibiotics and steroids to increase their size, which we ingest and get the effects of those drugs also.

Antibiotics are being overused. I think that we need to stop overprescribing antibiotics because they have a negative overall effect. 50% of all antibiotic prescriptions written each year in the US are not needed, or are not prescribed appropriately. The more we rely on the antibiotics the more resistant the bacteria

The use of the healthcare system as a whole is largely determined by the cost incurred by the patient, as well as insurance companies within the healthcare system. As for combating the growth of antibiotic resistance, it might be beneficial to increase the cost of antibiotics so that they are used only when clinically appropriate. This, however, would lead to a decrease in access to patients who might actually need these forms of treatment and who are unable to afford them. Additionally, increasing the cost of treatment options may cause there to be a delay or abandonment of therapy. While neither of these options may be ideal to patients, and even the healthcare system as a whole, the consideration of their use may aid in lowering the prevalence of antibiotic resistance.

Dr. Martin Blaser, author of Missing Microbes: How the Overuse of Antibiotics is Fueling Our Modern Plagues, paints antibiotics as a negative force in the world that causes disease. Dr. Blaser has studied the role of bacteria in human disease for more than thirty years at Vanderbilt University, and has experience as the director of the Human Microbiome Project at New York University. He also works with the National Institute of Health on infectious diseases. Meanwhile, Dr. David Shlaes, author of Antibiotics: The Perfect Storm, focuses on the drugs’ ability to cure disease. Dr. Shlaes has worked for 30 years in anti-infective academia, industry, and consulting. He served as Professor of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University for five years, and then moved to industry, where he became vice president of Infectious Diseases at Wyeth Research. Later, he took a position as executive vice president of research and development at Idenix Pharmaceuticals in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and formed his own consulting company. He now works predominantly with biotech companies and venture capital firms in their evaluation of anti-infective companies. While they take different approaches, the two doctors concur that antibiotic resistance is a major problem and that society needs to find ways to slow it down. One way to slow down the spread of resistant bacteria is finding ways to ensure

The misuse of antibiotics means that bacteria that have minor resistances survive when patients do not follow their prescription regimens, and then they are able to flourish and spread this resistance to other bacteria (14). This is a result of miseducation among the public about when antibiotics should be taken. In the United States, for instance, 9% of people who take antibiotics are either taking antibiotics that they or someone they knew had leftover (15). This is a danger because taking antibiotics when they are not needed removes the body's natural flora that helps prevent infection and allows for antibiotic resistant bacteria to

Overtime, antibiotics have been favorable as well as negligent to society. Antibiotic usage is helpful to society because it kills and fights off bacteria in both humans and animals. With an increase in antibiotic usage, these bacteria have become resistant to certain drugs which reduce the chance of the bacteria being killed off and result in bacteria multiplying, causing increased harm to the infected. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2013), each year in the United States at least 2 million people become infected with bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics and at least 23,000 people die each year as a result to these infections. Although multiple bacteria are antibiotic resistant, and those numbers will continue to rise, antibiotics should remain a staple in the treatment of diseases, as opposed to abandoning their use which will cause an increase in the prevalence of bacterial infections.

The overuse and misuse of antibiotics contributes to antibiotic resistance, which persists as a problem because it can further result in a patient’s death. Inpatients are frequently affected by infections in hospitals and antibiotics are given to treat these patients. However, due to the overuse and misuse of antibiotics in

It has been a widely held belief for many years that antibiotics are a type of “cure all” used by doctors. However, due to some disturbing medical cases, doctors are becoming increasingly concerned that the same antibiotics they have been using for a number of years may start causing more medical issues than they are helping. In this article there are two real life examples of families who have experienced devastating consequences antibiotics not working as they should.

The overuse of antibiotics has been a problem for well over a decade. This misuse leads to many nonvisible problems arising within the human population. As the use of antibiotics increases, the number of antibiotic resistant bacteria also increases. When bacteria become resistant to an antibiotic, another antibiotic must be used to try and kill it and the cycle becomes vicious. Michael Martin, Sapna Thottathil, and Thomas Newman stated that antimicrobial resistance is, “an increasingly serious threat to global public health that requires action across all government sectors and society” (2409).