Sick.
Sick. Sick.
 I
listened to the last broadcast of Randi Rhodes'
radio show on Friday and cried like a baby. I listened
to Carl Kasel's last broadcast on "Wait
Wait... Don't Tell Me!" and cried like a baby.
Too many good things going away these days, like
antibiotics and helium.
Yes, antibiotics.
It's
times like these I almost wish the Christian
fundamentalist's were right, that there was no
such thing as evolution.
Unfortunately, through the careless misuse and
profligate overuse
of antibiotics we've let the genetic genie out
of the bottle and antibiotics are quickly losing
effectiveness against many different strains of
bacteria. We're quickly approaching
the endgame of available
treatments
for
infectious
disease.
Not trying to be TOO alarmist here but imagine
dying from a paper cut. Yeah, it could get that
bad.
There are several steps we can take to stem the
bacterial tide, one of which is more prudent drug
use — better
and faster diagnosis to determine whether an infection
is viral or bacterial and whether it is even susceptible
to treatment. Too often doctors prescribe antibiotics
for viral infections, for which they're all but
useless.
As for cleaning agents with antimicrobial
properties,
stop using them. You're really doing nothing but
creating hardier strains of bacteria.
Also, and this is rather important,
farmers must stop feeding
antibiotics to their livestock by the bucket in order to facilitate rapid weight
gain, another case in which the meat industry is
killing
all
of us. It's estimated more than 60% of available
antibiotics are fed to farm animals each year, as
much as 50 million
pounds of the stuff. That is madness.
Finally, hospitals and individuals
must improve
their hygiene to prevent bacterial spread. And,
just as a reminder, as a patient, always take the
full course of prescribed antibiotics. Don't quit
just because you're
feeling
better. The last thing we need is one more incubator
of mutant bacteria.
=Lefty=
|
