The Chief Medical Officer for England’s recent warning that antibiotic resistance could see us dying following minor surgery is the latest in the series of apocalyptic warnings.
‘We could return to a pre-antibiotic age where routine operations are cancelled for fear of infection.’
‘Superbugs will kill more people than cancer.’
‘Antibiotic resistance is the biggest health problem facing humankind.’
Doom, Armageddon, the end of the human race.
The thing is that Dame Sally Davies’ prediction isn’t the thing of schlock science fiction. It is fact, and it is already with us. And we must act now, before that doom watch clicks onto midnight.
Ever since the discovery of penicillin, antibiotics have been a pivotal part of medicine.
Sir Alexander Fleming’s discovery has seen a generation brought up knowing that the infections that killed their ancestors (from infected wounds to sexually transmitted diseases) could be cured, usually with just a few pills and in a short time.
Antibiotics have also been vital in curing infections that patients receiving intense hospital treatment or who have poor immune systems endure.
But as Fleming himself predicted: ‘The time may come when penicillin can be bought by anyone in the shops. Then there is the danger that the ignorant man may easily underdose himself and by exposing his microbes to non-lethal quantities of the drug make them resistant.’
He made that particular prophecy back in 1945. So who is responsible for making his miracle medicine such a danger?
The obvious response would be to point the finger of blame at the pharmaceutical industry, who have failed to develop new medications to treat emerging resistant infections.
Resistance to antibiotics is caused when bacteria in our bodies morphs to reduce or eliminate the effectiveness of the drugs. That spreads and causes serious health problems.
New medications simply haven’t been created to combat this, and not one single new class of antibiotics has been developed since the 1980s.
But then there is a reason for this. Antibiotics simply don’t make money. They are taken for a short period of time and attempts at developing new ones to send to market have meant near financial ruin for some pharmaceutical companies.
Health shouldn’t be a commercial commodity though, and surely decision-makers need to encourage and incentivise companies to develop antibiotics – or risk a huge health crisis, which in turn will cause a massive financial deficit.
Unfortunately, politicians rarely get letters in their post bag about antibiotic resistance, so think it isn’t a vote grabber.
Successive governments have made plenty of noise about the issue, but their plans haven’t been backed by action. Meanwhile there is total silence on the subject from the opposition benches, even though antibiotic resistance will hit the most vulnerable, hardest.
Doctors also receive flak for over-prescribing antibiotics – and in some cases, rightly so. One in five such drugs disseminated in the UK is needless.
Better education for prescribers would be beneficial but it would also help if patients didn’t pressure them to the point of threatening a bad online review or even resorting to abuse. Antibiotics don’t cure everything – especially not colds, sore throats or flu.
Much has been made of the role the farming industry has played in creating antibiotic resistance. Irresponsible farmers have fed animals antibiotics not only to cure sickness but also to prevent it especially under intensive farming conditions.
Whilst the use of antibiotics in farming is falling, it could reduce faster and, importantly, not use the same life-saving antibiotics that should be reserved exclusively for human use.
Recent research has shown that antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria are now in a range of European bodies of water.
Did you know that surfers for example, are three times more likely to carry drug-resistant e-coli bacteria picked up from contact with sea water?
And finally there are charities. Yes, charities. Until recently, we have missed a real opportunity to work together to tackle antibiotic resistance.
Collecting cash to find new cancer treatments or better medications to cure heart disease is a wonderful thing – but a patient who benefits from these breakthroughs could then die of a hospital acquired antibiotic resistant infection!
I am delighted that the silo working has therefore stopped and that we are now talking and planning and presenting a united front against the superbugs.
And so these are the main suspects in the crime of antibiotic resistance. A crime I would remind you that is predicted to kill 10million people globally by 2050. But there is one other group that has both caused and can cure it:
You.
Aside from not demanding antibiotics every time you have a sniffle, you could use the energy deployed into movements such as Extinction Rebellion to mobilise and preserve the health of future generations.
The comparison with environmentalism is an apt one. That was an issue seen as remote to most people; a problem for someone else to deal with.
That was until they saw freak weather, polluted air and the suffering of wildlife.
All of us could spare just a few minutes to create a groundswell of outrage. We could write to our MP or visit them at their surgery. Create online petitions to demand that something be done to incentivise the pharmaceutical industry.
Our media headlines have been dominated by new discoveries such as antibiotic properties in dirt, honey and even platypus milk! (Remember Fleming’s discovery of penicillin came by accident when he discovered mould in a Petrie dish).
Let funding emerge to turn that British innovation into clinical trials and proper development of new antibiotic medications.
Best of all I would say join the resistance against antibiotic resistance. Our charity began small but is emerging at an impressive rate in its battle to beat the world’s biggest health problem.
We have many volunteers organising fundraising and educational events. And we have become the first charity in the world to offer people suffering from an antibiotic resistant infection such as MRSA, emotional and educational support.
The important thing to remember about apocalyptic warnings are that they are still warnings. We still have time to change things. But that time must be now, if we are to prevent the predicted health catastrophe.
Learn more about Antibiotic Research UK (ANTRUK) and how YOU can get involved by visiting https://www.antibioticresearch.org.uk/
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