U.S. CDC warns overuse of antibiotics has fueled more infections

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Reuters

U.S. CDC warns overuse of antibiotics has fueled more infections
Source: Reuters - Wed, 25 Feb 2015 22:00 GMT

By Yasmeen Abutaleb

NEW YORK, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Overuse of antibiotics made Americans more vulnerable to a strain of bacteria that caused nearly half a million infections and contributed to at least 29,000 deaths in a single year, U.S. public health officials warned in a study published on Wednesday.

The study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention focused on the Clostridium difficile bacterium, which can cause deadly diarrhea. The findings, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, highlight how overprescription of antibiotics has fueled a rise in bacteria that are resistant to treatment.

People who take antibiotics are most at risk of acquiring C. difficile because these medications also wipe out "good" bacteria that protect a healthy person against the infection.

"Antibiotics are clearly driving this whole problem," Clifford McDonald, CDC senior advisor for science and integrity, said on a conference call with reporters.


Read more: http://www.trust.org/item/20150225220048-tzltm/

[closeupready]

1. Not possible. You can't get antibiotics without a prescription from a doctor.

Ergo, every antibiotic prescription is necessary.

[Liberal Veteran]

2. If I ever want antibiotics, I go to the urgent care places.

It would be easier to get my doctor to write me an rx for thalidomide or oxycontin than antibiotics.

Of course getting an appointment to see your primary care doc when you have something that needs antibiotics is a hassle in itself. "Oh, you have red lines moving up from the wound oozing pus on your leg? We have an opening a week from next Friday at 3pm."

[HockeyMom]

5. Overuse of them develops a "tolerance"

to them over time. I was told this by my daughter pediatrician 25 years ago. She kept getting strep and ear infections over and over. Her doctor had to keep giving her stronger and stronger antibiotics because they were not working. The last ear infection she had back in the 90s cost $50 for ONE PILL with INSURANCE. Her doctor said at that time this is the END, no more.

[closeupready]

7. I was being sarcastic. Of course there are bad doctors.

Who are just as incompetent or harmful in their treatments as other professionals are in their own ways. But often here on DU, doctors are high priests, above any and all reproach ALWAYS. Period.

[happyslug]

12. Not if you say it is for use on Animals, you do NOT even need a Vet's prescriptions is most states.

http://www.coreynahman.com/antibiotics.html

Here are some for actual sale:

http://www.fishmoxfishflex.com/index.php/fish-antibiotics.html

Tetracycline 250 mg for $9.95 for 12 pills:

http://www.fishmoxfishflex.com/index.php/fish-cycline-tetracycline.html

The second generation of Antibiotics are available for here is ciprofloxacin, 250 mg, 300 count for $29.99

http://www.fishmoxfishflex.com/index.php/fish-flex-cephalexin.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciprofloxacin

Penicillin is for sale at 250 mg Tablets 30 count for $24.95:

http://www.fishmoxfishflex.com/index.php/fish-pen-forte-penicillin-500mg-30-count.html

[RufusTFirefly]

3. You don't say!

Why, of course it is.

Making piles of money making you sick and making even more money treating you. Lather, rinse, repeat.

[Sienna86]

4. I have to wonder if antibiotics in our meat and milk affect this?

That's a constant dose for most people, multiple times a day.

[RufusTFirefly]

8. How does 70 percent grab ya?

Quoted in Scientific American

Today, close to 70 percent of all antibiotics and related drugs used in the United States are routinely fed to cattle, pigs and poultry, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Yummy! Now I know why I'm a vegan. (although this same article suggests that antibiotics are showing up in produce as well.)

[valerief]

6. Doctors can kill people just like cops, it appears. And get away with it, too. nt

[CAG]

9. good lord, a bit dramatic there....

[BrotherIvan]

10. C. Difficile is one of the worst, most debilitating things I have ever witnessed

My mother got it from the hospital. The very expensive ($6k) medicine was not covered by her insurance which was good. Three rounds to get rid of it. Anyone who came into contact with her including myself had to wear gloves and we bleached everything. I was so scared one of her caregivers might get it. It is awful!

There is currently only one effective procedure to cure it and that is a fecal transplant. They are working on spore treatments which show a lot of promise. I hope they come up with something soon because people are dying from it.

It comes from unsanitary conditions in hospitals such as sharing bed pans. How special.

[Judi Lynn]

13. I'll bet there was a time you would never have imagined one could get sick from being in hospitals.

Absolutely hideous.

Thanks for your post.

[BrotherIvan]

14. No, I never would have imagined it

I blame the for profit health industry. Paying so much for hospitalization and then getting horrid infections like MRSA or dying is just too much. Tell everyone you know that you have to be very vigilant when your loved ones are in the hospital. They are doing their best, especially the nurses, but their staffs have been cut and they have too many patients and no resources. But make sure they don't sare bedpans and they change gloves! C. Diff is highly contagious!

[Aristus]

11. I'm very conservative in my practice when it comes to antibiotics.

I only prescribe them for confirmed bacterial infection, and never for viruses. If a person comes in for an STD check, and he's got verifiable symptoms, I'll treat empirically, and do a standard STD lab panel to confirm.

But I imagine there are providers out there who will prescribe a course of antibiotics just to get their patients to shut up and go away. I can't count how many patients I've had who tell me: "I've got a cold. Can you just give me some antibiotics?"

I tell them 'no', and then educate them on the difference between viral and bacterial infections, and the differences in treating each. Most of the time, my patients accept my advice and my plan for symptomatic treatment until they feel better. But I would rather have a patient stomp out angrily than treat their condition inappropriately.

There is a cultural factor at work, too. There are a few antibiotics, like penicillin, that are available over the counter in places like Mexico, so there seems to be the resulting belief that any time you have a cold, pick up some penicillin, and it will make you better; a belief supported by the fact that they soon do get better. Although it was simple recovery from a viral infection, they thought the penicillin was the cure.

I had a Russian woman bring her kids in one time for evaluation of cold symptoms. All three had viral infections, for which I prescribed the appropriate symptomatic treatment. The mother complained to the manager that I had not treated her kids. I explained it to my supervising physician, who told me: "In Russia, when one goes to the doctor, one expects to get antibiotics." I thought then and still do, that that's a lousy way to practice medicine. But I will continue my patient education as often as I can.

[BrotherIvan]

15. Wow, good for you

You are definitely the exception to the rule. Every person I know who goes to the doctor for a cold for them or their children comes home (or gets the prescription over the phone) with antibiotics. I have never heard of a doctor telling them that the antibiotics won't work for a virus. The doctors will usually explain they are are prescribing for a possible secondary bacterial infection.

[Drahthaardogs]

16. This is a good practice, but does little to stem the problem.

Think about it, if no bacterial infection exists in the first place, how can the antibiotics genetically select for a resistant strain of bacteria? With the exception of staphylococcus on the skin, it really cannot.

The problem lies in animal husbandry where low level antibiotic are given every day to speed up growth and prevent infections. A secondary problem lies with the improper taking of antibiotics for a real bacterial infection.

Giving antibiotics for a viral infection is like when they used to tell you to shut the water off while brushing your teeth, while the guys out in the county were losing tens of millions of gallons of water a year just on shrinkage in their irrigation canals that were unlined.

[In_The_Wind]

17. Sounds like good providers should be working as you do.

[wordpix]

18. antibiotics in food-producing animals also causes antibiot. resistance

http://www.cdc.gov/narms/animals.html

http://civileats.com/2012/06/05/ars-highlights-alternatives-to-antibiotics-for-animal-agriculture/

Some facts:

Resistant bacteria may be transmitted to humans through the foods we eat (CDC)

80% of all antibiotics sold in US each year
used in food animal production

16 % increase in antibiotic use in food animals, 2009 to 2012 (FDA)

FDA has only a voluntary program asking farmers to discontinue antibiotics in animal feed and water