The Independent on Sunday was recently given figures by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) that warns that our medical defences against bacteria are becoming weaker as bacteria become more resistant to antibiotics. The statistics reveal that in the past five years there has been a huge growth in the number of drug resistant bacteria.
Carbapenum is the most effective antibiotic used in the UK and until three years ago there were only five cases a year where people were found with bacteria that was resistant to it. This year alone there have already been nearly 400 cases. This is a great concern in the medical community because this drug is often given as a last resort treatment when all other antibiotics have failed.
Resistant bacteria have emerged because of the overuse of antibiotics. They have been over prescribed and are even available without prescription in some countries. This means that strains of bacteria that can survive them are entering the food chain.
A statement by the World Health Organisation (WHO) said, “The continued overuse of antibiotics may lead to a stage where it was as if we did not have any. This would result in people having to have surgeries to remove infected areas, and would be a huge step back medically.” Fifty countries have recently signed agreements that will mean antibiotics are more controlled and resistant bacteria infections will be more closely monitored.
Most people are not aware that taking antibiotics can be dangerous. Bacteria in the gut mutate very rapidly and you may find that if you take a course of antibiotics that once the infection has passed you may suffer an infection again and the same antibiotics will not be effective against the resistant bugs.
Tim Walsh is a professor from Cardiff University and is an expert on antibiotics. He has commented that, “In Britain we are very close to having a time when we have bacteria that there is no treatment for. We have become complacent in our use of antibiotics and this is going to take us back to the 1920s medically, a time when there were no antibiotics.”
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