The drugs don't work - so what will?

[waltky]

The Doomsday Bug...

The drugs don't work - so what will?
8 April 2011 : Antibiotics have been one of the greatest success stories in medicine. But there is growing concern that the drugs' usefulness is coming to an end.

It has been reported that antibiotic resistance has reached "unprecedented levels". Last year in Europe more than 25,000 people died of bacterial infections that were resistant to antibiotics. As the director general of the World Health Organisation, Dr Margaret Chan, put it: "The world is heading towards a post-antibiotic era in which many common infections will no longer have a cure and, once again, kill unabated." During the last decade, MRSA became one of the most feared words in hospitals. The latest concern is NDM-1. It is resistant to one of the more powerful groups of drugs, carbapenem antibiotics, and has been detected in UK patients.

Why not produce more antibiotics?

One solution to antibiotic resistance is to develop new drugs. The eminent microbiologist Professor Hugh Pennington told the BBC: "There are no new antibiotics coming along and we've run out of easy targets. "Pessimism is the order of the day, we're holding the line, but we're not gaining." However, Professor Chris Thomas, molecular geneticist at the University of Birmingham, says that while a degree of complacency did set in: "There is a pipeline of new antibiotics from the evidence I've seen. There are new ways of developing drugs and new drugs have come through."

Drug manufacture almost inevitably depends on the pharmaceutical industry and unfortunately there are problems with the present business model. To take a drug from discovery to market is estimated to cost £700m. Colin McKay, from the European Federation of the Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations, said: "It is very difficult to make economically viable models for antibiotics." "With heart medication or anti-depressants a lot of people take them for a long time so you can make money back. An antibiotic that works is unlikely to be used for more than a couple of weeks." He added: "A new way to promote research is needed and there is an ongoing debate into how to do it."

Virus vs Bacteria

 

[MaggieMae]

The Doomsday Bug...

The drugs don't work - so what will?
8 April 2011 : Antibiotics have been one of the greatest success stories in medicine. But there is growing concern that the drugs' usefulness is coming to an end.

It has been reported that antibiotic resistance has reached "unprecedented levels". Last year in Europe more than 25,000 people died of bacterial infections that were resistant to antibiotics. As the director general of the World Health Organisation, Dr Margaret Chan, put it: "The world is heading towards a post-antibiotic era in which many common infections will no longer have a cure and, once again, kill unabated." During the last decade, MRSA became one of the most feared words in hospitals. The latest concern is NDM-1. It is resistant to one of the more powerful groups of drugs, carbapenem antibiotics, and has been detected in UK patients.

Why not produce more antibiotics?

One solution to antibiotic resistance is to develop new drugs. The eminent microbiologist Professor Hugh Pennington told the BBC: "There are no new antibiotics coming along and we've run out of easy targets. "Pessimism is the order of the day, we're holding the line, but we're not gaining." However, Professor Chris Thomas, molecular geneticist at the University of Birmingham, says that while a degree of complacency did set in: "There is a pipeline of new antibiotics from the evidence I've seen. There are new ways of developing drugs and new drugs have come through."

Drug manufacture almost inevitably depends on the pharmaceutical industry and unfortunately there are problems with the present business model. To take a drug from discovery to market is estimated to cost £700m. Colin McKay, from the European Federation of the Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations, said: "It is very difficult to make economically viable models for antibiotics." "With heart medication or anti-depressants a lot of people take them for a long time so you can make money back. An antibiotic that works is unlikely to be used for more than a couple of weeks." He added: "A new way to promote research is needed and there is an ongoing debate into how to do it."

Virus vs Bacteria

It's my understanding that over-use of antibiotic drugs has had the effect of also knocking out the body's natural immune system. (Just like chemotherapy also kills good cells as well as the bad.)

To answer your question, maybe we need to just say no to manufactured antibodies and go back to relying on built-in antibodies. When I was a kid, I did all sorts of things considered taboo these days: Ate strawberries right off the plants in the garden without washing them; crawled around in the woods with no bug protection; bathed in pure Ivory soap; often forgot to wash my hands before/after meals AND the bathroom. And we never had all these additional health problems experienced today, just the normal number of colds and stomach flus.

Also, even more controversial: My parents both smoked, my mother smoked and drank alcohol (normally) all during 3 pregnancies, and ultimately all five members of the household smoked. None of us kids suffered any consequences, and no one died of lung disease caused by "second-hand" smoke.