Some disturbing reports are coming out of the Asia-Pacific region that there is an ‘alarming’ rate of babies with infections resistant to common antibiotics.
This should be the canary down the coalmine for our reliance on antibiotics.
The misuse and over-reliance on antibiotics are causing bacteria to mutate so common antibiotics are no longer working.
Infectious disease paediatrician Dr Phoebe Williams told The Guardian she had found ‘whole wards’ of babies with multi-drug resistant infections during her work in the region.
Unfortunately the conditions in the wards don’t help. More than one baby is often placed in the same cot, staff don’t have time to fully sterilise themselves between patients and the hospitals themselves don’t have the resources available to more wealthy countries.
If this all seems a bit far away to worry about, think about how many times you or people you know have travelled to the region, and anyone of them could bring such a ‘bug’ back home with them.
We need to stop expecting to use antibiotics for every sniffle and cough.
I well remember how astonished the nurses were when they found out my ailing father couldn’t remember the last time he had antibiotics (he thought it may have been when he had his tonsils out as a kid) and how pleased they were they could choose from a range of drugs.
However, if you are prescribed antibiotics, always take the full course of drugs. If you finish before the course, any surviving bugs are the toughest and you have just let them live another day.
Do you worry about antibiotic resistance?
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