The Problem With Growing Antibiotic Resistance
Granny Smith apples
There is a disturbance going on in modern medicine. Antibiotics that were so wonderfully powerful at the beginning of the 20th century against bad bugs like measles and diphtheria are rapidly becoming ineffective. It’s called antibiotic resistance. Bacteria and viruses multiply rapidly and can easily and quickly shift their own DNA to resist modern drugs.
From the article: Antibiotics are life-saving medicines designed to kill germs, but over the years many germs have developed the ability to defeat the drugs designed to kill them. The growth of this resistance is also accelerated by the overuse and misuse of antibiotics — in many cases, incorrectly prescribed.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest public health challenges of our time. Infections caused by these antibiotic-resistant germs are difficult, and sometimes impossible, to treat, according to the CDC.
Service members who deploy to areas of the world where there’s widespread antibiotic-resistant bacteria are at risk for bacterial infections. And those who are already ill, wounded or injured may be more susceptible to these infections. In addition, troops may carry these infections home with them. – article
With all the other issues we have, it’s bad enough that bugs can alter their DNA at will to survive chemical poisoning. The more and more aggressive we are in trying to decimate these populations, the faster they mutate. Nature always wins, and we are fighting a losing battle.
Whether or not this method works better than chemicals, if it works now – removal instead of extermination – will it still be effective in the future? Things have gotten so bad in modern medicine that a while ago, there was a report on how researchers are looking at medieval medical texts to try to find something that will work.
You know that old saying that ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away’? There’s more to that than just great-grandma’s quips and homemade advice.
When I watched a video on finding and opening Richard III’s tomb, in a parking lot that had once been the Gray Friars Abbey, the first thing I noticed was that the archaeologist doing the digging was wearing hazmat gear, including a mask, from head to toe. A woman’s casket was also excavated, because it was placed alongside the King’s. Those old tombs and graves are being opened more and more frequently now, and there are bugs buried in them that are just as lethal now as they were when the Plagues swept through Europe (bubonic plague and smallpox), Athens (possibly ebola) and Rome (Antonine Plague – smallpox or possibly measles). Even Elizabeth I was not protected from the Pox. She contracted it, and thanks to a healthy immune system, survived it.
I have two smallpox vax scars, one from toddlerhood and one from boot camp. Neither of them is effective now. We kids got vaccinated in grade school when the Salk vaccine became available. Then again in junior high and (me) again in boot camp. And in grade school, we were all tested for TB, which seems to be reviving itself now.
Remember the anthrax scare? That got its start when heavy rains in the Plains States softened the spores that held the anthrax bugs enough to “wake them up” and revive the disease, when no one had seen it in nearly a century and ranchers thought they didn’t have to vaccinate their cattle for it any more. Anthrax can lie dormant for as long as it needs to. It’s a great survival mechanism.
Nature is a harsh mistress. She always wins.
Category: Reality Check
Not just that, many people don’t take all of the antibiotics prescribed to them, they stop taking it when they feel better thus only killing off the weaker part of the strain affecting them. Let some of those communicable diseases come about and we’ll see many of the anti-vaxxers fall first.
Good post Ex… flushing unused antibiotics (and other meds for that matter) down the toilet is another reason some of this stuff is popping up.. the low levels of antibiotics in the sewer create an environment that is perfect for the bugs to adapt in.. and high levels of hormones from birth control etc also cause animal mutations… so please, dispose of unused meds properly (at household waste round-ups, or drug drop-offs)
The OTC antibiotic creams advertised on the TV have always scared me. Little junior gets an owie and the first thing we’re told to do is slather antibiotics on it. For goodness sake, let nature take its course. Sure, it will be ugly for a while, but save the antibiotics for something life threatening.
Drink more Coldbeer. May not kill the bug, but it WILL make you not care how sick you are. /s/
Or you could turn your apples into Brandy. Same effect.
When I still had my tonsils, I gargled a shot of liquor then swallowed it when I started feeling symptoms of a pending sore throat. Worked most of the time. When I did get a sore throat, I was able to minimize the pain. Since the VA took my tonsils out, I haven’t had to worry about that.
The black VD– drug resistant gonorrhea– (as we were all warned about) is a reality: https://www.cdc.gov/std/gonorrhea/arg/default.htm