Abuse of Antibiotics
【keywords 】：Abuse Overuse of Antibiotics Public Health Crisis
【Introduction 】
EVERY year 80,000 Chinese die from antibiotics abuse, making China one of the worst offenders in the world.
Statistics show that among the country's 15 best-selling medicines, 10 are antibiotics. More than 50 per cent of the medical expenses for Chinese in-patients goes to cover different kinds of antibiotics, while the figure in Western countries is just 15 to 30 per cent.
The side effects of antibiotics use can damage organs, cause disorders in the body's normal bacteria and increase the resistance of disease causing germs.
Many Chinese believe the myth that antibiotics can diminish inflammation, so they use them to treat everything from toothache to fever.
【the main text】
Before the discovery of antibiotics in the 1940s, millions of people died routinely of staphylococcus and streptococcus and more serious bacterial infections like meningitis,
pneumonia and tuberculosis. But over the years, antibiotics have become less effective because some bacteria have developed ways to survive the medicines meant to kill or weaken them. VOA's Rosanne Skirble reports on how the overuse and abuse of antibiotics is creating a public health crisis and how some communities are responding to it.
Bacteria comprise about one-20th of our body weight. Most of these organisms are harmless, like those in the intestinal tract that help us to digest our food. Others can make us really sick.
Streptococcus is a common bacteria found on the skin and in the nose, even in healthy people. But it can also cause acute respiratory illness, sinusitis, some ear infections and pneumonia. Over the last 60 years, most serious bacterial infections have been treated with some type of penicillin-related antibiotic. Today penicillin is not as effective as it once was. Drug-resistant bacteria are to blame. We are all at risk of getting an untreatable infection because it is the bacteria and not the person that becomes resistant to antibiotics. And those bacteria can be spread by simple physical contact.
Antibiotic resistance is not new, but what is troubling is that the number of drug-resistant bacteria is growing at the same time that the drugs used to combat them are decreasing in potency and number.
A new study released by the Alliance Working for Antibiotic Resistance Education, better known as AWARE, tracks the effectiveness of penicillin against Streptococcus pneumonia, a common bacterial cause of meningitis, ear infections, pneumonia and sinusitis.
It reports that in Northern California, drug-resistant cases fell from 27 percent of all infections in 2000 to 19 percent in 2002. In Southern California resistance remained at 27 percent, still lower than the 30 percent national average.
The decline is good news and in part due to the work of AWARE, a statewide partnership that includes physician organizations, health agencies, healthcare providers and consumer and education groups. Elissa Maas is the executive director.
"The overall goals of AWARE are really three: to increase the appropriate prescribing of
antibiotics, to increase the public's awareness of the importance of the issue of both appropriate use antibiotic and antibiotic resistance and then mobilizing communities to take action."
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 50 percent of antibiotic use may be inappropriate. Elissa Maas says AWARE targets doctors who over-prescribe antibiotics and consumers who routinely demand them for everything from a headache to the common cold. "It is about not asking for an antibiotic when we have a cold or flu bug and we go in and we want that from the doctor. We do not need it. It will not work. And, so part of this [work] is just hammering those messages over and over because they are simple behaviors that can solve the problem," she says.
And that means bombarding citizens with information in public service announcements heard on radio stations across California.
Other simple behavior changes include using the entire prescription and not saving or sharing the drugs with anyone. Taking an antibiotic in too small a dose or for too short a time allows the bacteria to develop mutations or to acquire drug resistance from other bacteria.
A World Health Organization report recommends aggressive action to combat drug resistant infections, which it says, "could rob the world of its opportunity to cure illnesses and stop epidemics."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has initiated a campaign for the appropriate use of antibiotics, of which the California AWARE program is part. The solution, says AWARE executive director Elissa Maas requires a collaborative effort.
"I can't stress enough the word 'partner.' This issue is so gargantuan that no one organization is going to solve it," she says. " We have got to have the doctors involved. We have got to have the pharmacists, and nurses. We have to have the health plans. We have got to have the
pharmaceutical companies. We have got to have consumer groups. We have to have the media. Everybody has to sit there and say, 'Oh my gosh, we have a problem.'"
And from that realization, Elissa Maas hopes, will come aggressive programs that the World Health Organization is urging, to ensure that the drugs we have today will be available to fight tomorrow's infections.
I am Rosanne Skirble.
The Dangers Of Prescribing Antibiotics
Erythromycin is a commonly used antibiotic, but new research suggests it could be dangerous when used in combination with other drugs.// The study shows patients should not be given erythromycin along with antifungal agents such as diltiazem, verapamil and troleandomycin because it increases the risk of sudden death.
Researchers conducted the study to determine if there is any association between the use of erythromycin and sudden cardiac death. Researchers used information on 1,476 cases of confirmed sudden death due to cardiac causes. They looked at what medications the patients were on including the drugs erythromycin or amoxicillin.
Amoxicillin is another commonly used antibiotic, but does not have the same effect on the heart as erythromycin.
The rate of sudden death from cardiac causes among patients on erythromycin was twice as high compared to those who had not used any antibiotics. The research also shows the rate of sudden death from cardiac causes was five-times as high among patients on erythromycin and a CYP3A inhibitor however there was no increased risk of death among patients on amoxicillin.
Thus researchers say the combination use of these drugs should be avoided and researchers say there are alternative drugs that doctors can prescribe without putting patients at a higher risk for sudden death.
The Hidden Dangers of Antibiotics
Antibiotics, meaning literally “against life” were invented to kill the invading bacteria that our own immune system has failed to destroy, resulting in bacterial infections somewhere in the body. Most of us would not be here today if not for the benefits of antibiotics. However, there is a disturbing down side to the use and overuse of antibiotics. Antibiotics are ingested to kill off bad bacteria, but are in fact ruthless killers of all bacteria in the body both good and bad. When they set off in the blood stream to kill bacterial invaders they have no understanding of which bacteria are invading and which are immune system supporters. They are not thinkers, they are killers. When the bad bacteria are sufficiently killed, we regain our wellness as the infection heals.
However, what we cannot see or feel is the devastation of the intestinal “friendly flora” or good bacteria which resides in the surrounding area of the GI tract. When the friendly flora is depleted and cannot effectively communicate with the white blood cells we have been set into a cycle of a weakened immune system. This break down in communication makes us even more vulnerable to new invading bacteria. Our white blood cells then cease to communicate effectively with each other, allowing the chance of both viral and bacterial infection to greatly increase. If you have ever taken antibiotics in your lifetime it is crucial to take probiotics daily there after. Avoiding probiotics supplements is an invitation to the contraction of more and more illness and disease. If you are eating yogurt that is high in sugar to replenish your friendly flora it unfortunately is doing little good. Sugar kills good bacteria, so this commercial venture is simply hype.
Antibiotics should be taken with extreme caution. Since antibiotics do not kill viral infections, taking them for viruses such as the flu serves only to wipe out even more friendly flora, further compromising your immune system. Not taking the fully prescribed amount of antibiotics for an infection such as strep throat or a sinus infection because you “feel much better” is a disastrous choice. If all bad bacteria are not killed, they will mutate. This is how the antibiotic resistant mutant “superbugs” are developed. (This is also true of hand sanitizers and household cleaners. What doesn’t get killed, mutates.) Sinus and ear infections that need
more than one round of antibiotics are the perfect example. Flesh eating staph infections like MRSA is one of the worst, killing more people last year in the US than Aids. And it is on the rise.
True “universal” health care involves each person approaching their own health appropriately. The way you choose to approach your health has an invisible yet crucial domino effect on the entire world. Your choices matter!
*Please know that I am not a medical doctor or a health practitioner. I cannot diagnose your stomach problems nor can I guarantee a cure. I am here to share my knowledge, which applications have worked for me and to offer suggestions of where you may go physically, emotionally and spiritually for healing and self-empowerment. If you choose to explore alternative medicine, do not independently stop taking your prescribed medications. Always consult with your current doctor as well as your new practitioner when changing your medical program.
Abuse of Antibiotics
【keywords 】：Abuse Overuse of Antibiotics Public Health Crisis
【Introduction 】
EVERY year 80,000 Chinese die from antibiotics abuse, making China one of the worst offenders in the world.
Statistics show that among the country's 15 best-selling medicines, 10 are antibiotics. More than 50 per cent of the medical expenses for Chinese in-patients goes to cover different kinds of antibiotics, while the figure in Western countries is just 15 to 30 per cent.
The side effects of antibiotics use can damage organs, cause disorders in the body's normal bacteria and increase the resistance of disease causing germs.
Many Chinese believe the myth that antibiotics can diminish inflammation, so they use them to treat everything from toothache to fever.
【the main text】
Before the discovery of antibiotics in the 1940s, millions of people died routinely of staphylococcus and streptococcus and more serious bacterial infections like meningitis,
pneumonia and tuberculosis. But over the years, antibiotics have become less effective because some bacteria have developed ways to survive the medicines meant to kill or weaken them. VOA's Rosanne Skirble reports on how the overuse and abuse of antibiotics is creating a public health crisis and how some communities are responding to it.
Bacteria comprise about one-20th of our body weight. Most of these organisms are harmless, like those in the intestinal tract that help us to digest our food. Others can make us really sick.
Streptococcus is a common bacteria found on the skin and in the nose, even in healthy people. But it can also cause acute respiratory illness, sinusitis, some ear infections and pneumonia. Over the last 60 years, most serious bacterial infections have been treated with some type of penicillin-related antibiotic. Today penicillin is not as effective as it once was. Drug-resistant bacteria are to blame. We are all at risk of getting an untreatable infection because it is the bacteria and not the person that becomes resistant to antibiotics. And those bacteria can be spread by simple physical contact.
Antibiotic resistance is not new, but what is troubling is that the number of drug-resistant bacteria is growing at the same time that the drugs used to combat them are decreasing in potency and number.
A new study released by the Alliance Working for Antibiotic Resistance Education, better known as AWARE, tracks the effectiveness of penicillin against Streptococcus pneumonia, a common bacterial cause of meningitis, ear infections, pneumonia and sinusitis.
It reports that in Northern California, drug-resistant cases fell from 27 percent of all infections in 2000 to 19 percent in 2002. In Southern California resistance remained at 27 percent, still lower than the 30 percent national average.
The decline is good news and in part due to the work of AWARE, a statewide partnership that includes physician organizations, health agencies, healthcare providers and consumer and education groups. Elissa Maas is the executive director.
"The overall goals of AWARE are really three: to increase the appropriate prescribing of
antibiotics, to increase the public's awareness of the importance of the issue of both appropriate use antibiotic and antibiotic resistance and then mobilizing communities to take action."
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 50 percent of antibiotic use may be inappropriate. Elissa Maas says AWARE targets doctors who over-prescribe antibiotics and consumers who routinely demand them for everything from a headache to the common cold. "It is about not asking for an antibiotic when we have a cold or flu bug and we go in and we want that from the doctor. We do not need it. It will not work. And, so part of this [work] is just hammering those messages over and over because they are simple behaviors that can solve the problem," she says.
And that means bombarding citizens with information in public service announcements heard on radio stations across California.
Other simple behavior changes include using the entire prescription and not saving or sharing the drugs with anyone. Taking an antibiotic in too small a dose or for too short a time allows the bacteria to develop mutations or to acquire drug resistance from other bacteria.
A World Health Organization report recommends aggressive action to combat drug resistant infections, which it says, "could rob the world of its opportunity to cure illnesses and stop epidemics."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has initiated a campaign for the appropriate use of antibiotics, of which the California AWARE program is part. The solution, says AWARE executive director Elissa Maas requires a collaborative effort.
"I can't stress enough the word 'partner.' This issue is so gargantuan that no one organization is going to solve it," she says. " We have got to have the doctors involved. We have got to have the pharmacists, and nurses. We have to have the health plans. We have got to have the
pharmaceutical companies. We have got to have consumer groups. We have to have the media. Everybody has to sit there and say, 'Oh my gosh, we have a problem.'"
And from that realization, Elissa Maas hopes, will come aggressive programs that the World Health Organization is urging, to ensure that the drugs we have today will be available to fight tomorrow's infections.
I am Rosanne Skirble.
The Dangers Of Prescribing Antibiotics
Erythromycin is a commonly used antibiotic, but new research suggests it could be dangerous when used in combination with other drugs.// The study shows patients should not be given erythromycin along with antifungal agents such as diltiazem, verapamil and troleandomycin because it increases the risk of sudden death.
Researchers conducted the study to determine if there is any association between the use of erythromycin and sudden cardiac death. Researchers used information on 1,476 cases of confirmed sudden death due to cardiac causes. They looked at what medications the patients were on including the drugs erythromycin or amoxicillin.
Amoxicillin is another commonly used antibiotic, but does not have the same effect on the heart as erythromycin.
The rate of sudden death from cardiac causes among patients on erythromycin was twice as high compared to those who had not used any antibiotics. The research also shows the rate of sudden death from cardiac causes was five-times as high among patients on erythromycin and a CYP3A inhibitor however there was no increased risk of death among patients on amoxicillin.
Thus researchers say the combination use of these drugs should be avoided and researchers say there are alternative drugs that doctors can prescribe without putting patients at a higher risk for sudden death.
The Hidden Dangers of Antibiotics
Antibiotics, meaning literally “against life” were invented to kill the invading bacteria that our own immune system has failed to destroy, resulting in bacterial infections somewhere in the body. Most of us would not be here today if not for the benefits of antibiotics. However, there is a disturbing down side to the use and overuse of antibiotics. Antibiotics are ingested to kill off bad bacteria, but are in fact ruthless killers of all bacteria in the body both good and bad. When they set off in the blood stream to kill bacterial invaders they have no understanding of which bacteria are invading and which are immune system supporters. They are not thinkers, they are killers. When the bad bacteria are sufficiently killed, we regain our wellness as the infection heals.
However, what we cannot see or feel is the devastation of the intestinal “friendly flora” or good bacteria which resides in the surrounding area of the GI tract. When the friendly flora is depleted and cannot effectively communicate with the white blood cells we have been set into a cycle of a weakened immune system. This break down in communication makes us even more vulnerable to new invading bacteria. Our white blood cells then cease to communicate effectively with each other, allowing the chance of both viral and bacterial infection to greatly increase. If you have ever taken antibiotics in your lifetime it is crucial to take probiotics daily there after. Avoiding probiotics supplements is an invitation to the contraction of more and more illness and disease. If you are eating yogurt that is high in sugar to replenish your friendly flora it unfortunately is doing little good. Sugar kills good bacteria, so this commercial venture is simply hype.
Antibiotics should be taken with extreme caution. Since antibiotics do not kill viral infections, taking them for viruses such as the flu serves only to wipe out even more friendly flora, further compromising your immune system. Not taking the fully prescribed amount of antibiotics for an infection such as strep throat or a sinus infection because you “feel much better” is a disastrous choice. If all bad bacteria are not killed, they will mutate. This is how the antibiotic resistant mutant “superbugs” are developed. (This is also true of hand sanitizers and household cleaners. What doesn’t get killed, mutates.) Sinus and ear infections that need
more than one round of antibiotics are the perfect example. Flesh eating staph infections like MRSA is one of the worst, killing more people last year in the US than Aids. And it is on the rise.
True “universal” health care involves each person approaching their own health appropriately. The way you choose to approach your health has an invisible yet crucial domino effect on the entire world. Your choices matter!
*Please know that I am not a medical doctor or a health practitioner. I cannot diagnose your stomach problems nor can I guarantee a cure. I am here to share my knowledge, which applications have worked for me and to offer suggestions of where you may go physically, emotionally and spiritually for healing and self-empowerment. If you choose to explore alternative medicine, do not independently stop taking your prescribed medications. Always consult with your current doctor as well as your new practitioner when changing your medical program.