Is #RonaldReagan Responsible For Drug-Resistant #SuperBugs??

[thomhartmann]

[no_hypocrisy]

1. I'd honestly predate it before RR due to my personal experience.

Back in the Seventies, antibiotics were hailed as a panacea (cure for all maladies). I was prescribed Erythromycin twice a day for . . . . wait for it . . . . . cystic acne. Not that it worked but my dermatologist thought it did. All doctors needed was a hint of infection and you were taking antibiotics for generic colds as well as bronchitis. Plus, my father was an internist. He got us antibiotics for almost any reason we were sick. It was standard procedure.

[1939]

2. Plus

A lot of users never took the full course which allowed the bacteria strains to build up an immunity.

[mrmpa]

3. Research is a big part of the problem..........

one of the problems with research is that a lot of emphasis is put on "finding out what causes certain diseases" and not what can cure it.

I remember back in the '80's reading an article about tuberculosis and the fact that there had been a vaccination available for TB since the 1930's. It was used in Europe but the US never used it and wasn't using it even in the 1980's. When CDC and others were asked, why it was not made available, their stock answer was they were more concerned about what the causes of TB were rather than inoculating against it.

When I told my now 86 year old mom about this, she was almost in tears. She lost her beloved older brother in 1948 at the age of 27 from TB. She just could not wrap her head around the fact that he could have received the vaccine as a kid and maybe still be alive.

I'm not sure how this post answers the question(s) posed by Thomm Hartman, but I think it is a big part of the problem.