Jonathan Wilhoite Blog: Drug Resistant Superbugs May Kill Millions If Not Stopped

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Drug Resistant Superbugs May Kill Millions If Not Stopped

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According to the Review on Antimicrobial Resistance, superbugs are responsible for up to 10 million deaths each year due to antimicrobial resistance, with a staggering one death for every three seconds. With that said, the big question is how to stop superbugs from spreading?

A global initiative is being pushed in campaigning for public awareness after it has raised concerns about the increasing levels of microbes developing drug resistance paving the way for the evolution of ‘superbugs’ or microbes that become resistant to any form of medication.

One of the leading causes of antimicrobial resistance is the wanton use of antibiotics by the public without proper diagnosis, resulting to microbes developing their immunities on the antibiotic strain used to’ treat’ a condition. One of these is due to the ease of access of people purchasing antibiotics and are often sold over the counter.

“If we fail to act, we are looking at an almost unthinkable scenario where antibiotics no longer work and we are cast back into the dark ages of medicine,” UK Prime Minister David Cameron said.

This after a recent report came out about ‘superbugs’ or microbes that have been resistant to medicine have been estimated to account for 700,000 deaths each year, with little to very minimum developments in addressing these.

Unless there are ways to stop the proliferation and more evolved species of these superbugs, looking forward up until 2050 scientists are predicting that the toll may reach staggering proportions and one which the global community warns that must be addressed the soonest.

Among the pressing recommendations for this global initiative are the following;

> A massive global awareness campaign to educate the people of the risks involved regarding the use of antibiotics.

> Establish a $ 2 billion Global Innovation Fund to spur early research activities.

> Access to proper sanitation, clean water and clean hospitals, including measures to further prevent the spread of infectious diseases.

> Reduce the widespread use of antibiotics in agriculture and enforce a ban on those that are highly critical to human health.

> Develop an incentive mechanism that will pay companies $1 billion for every new antibiotic discovered, as well as financial incentives to develop new evaluation and assessment processes that will prevent further administration of the drug if it is not found to work effectively.

> Promote the use of vaccines and alternatives to drugs in the prevention of these diseases.

Several sectors however express apprehensions over some of the recommendations made by groups as it has been a long running problem with companies to come up with a new type of stronger antibiotics since the latest ones were developed as far back into the 1980’s.

The prospect of having a new antibiotic could only be relegated to storage until such time it can be used for emergencies, which would not be enough to recoup from costs for research and development.

United States President Barrack Obama has already laid out national plans to spur the campaign on the dangers and control measures to counter the effects of superbugs.

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from NUTRITION CLUB CANADA http://nutritionclub.ca/stop-superbugs/amp/