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Antibiotic resistance: World on cusp of 'post-antibiotic era'


doddisalegend
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Scary **** that might just be a lot more dangerous to humanity the climate change or the war on terror

 

The world is on the cusp of a "post-antibiotic era", scientists have warned after finding bacteria resistant to drugs used when all other treatments have failed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-34857015

 

All because we insisted on using them so we could pack more animals into smaller spaces when they would otherwise die. Criminally dumb.

 

If it really happens it will quickly sort out the over population problem.

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All because we insisted on using them so we could pack more animals into smaller spaces when they would otherwise die. Criminally dumb.

 

If it really happens it will quickly sort out the over population problem.

 

I was going to post something similar.

 

As we get better at treating illness with new borns (and their mothers), illnesses in the 3rd world, newer killer illnesses (i.e. Aids etc.) and looking after our old people, the population of the world gets bigger and bigger and bigger. The food chain is getting more fragile as we build on more green space (harming bees/insects, birds and upwards) and as we over fish the seas to feed more mouths. It's not sustainable, so I view this as natures way of evolving and going "hey, humans, this planet isn't just for you and there's too many of you", just as we'd sprinkle ant powder in the garden ...

 

Okay that's fairly extreme, but I do believe it's just natures way.

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All because we insisted on using them so we could pack more animals into smaller spaces when they would otherwise die. Criminally dumb.

 

If it really happens it will quickly sort out the over population problem.

 

 

 

Humanity certainly has a knack of thinking in the short term it seems. Nobody seemed to give much thought on the over use of antibiotics on livestock (and humans to be fair) it would appear.

Edited by doddisalegend
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I was going to post something similar.

 

As we get better at treating illness with new borns (and their mothers), illnesses in the 3rd world, newer killer illnesses (i.e. Aids etc.) and looking after our old people, the population of the world gets bigger and bigger and bigger. The food chain is getting more fragile as we build on more green space (harming bees/insects, birds and upwards) and as we over fish the seas to feed more mouths. It's not sustainable, so I view this as natures way of evolving and going "hey, humans, this planet isn't just for you and there's too many of you", just as we'd sprinkle ant powder in the garden ...

 

Okay that's fairly extreme, but I do believe it's just natures way.

 

I don't think its extreme. almost every problem this planet (and humanity) faces is directly linked to over population - from climate change and species extinctions to food and asset prices. If you look at the population charts we were relatively stable at around 250-300m for at least 2,000 years until the advent of modern science.

 

worldpopgrowth.jpg

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No need to worry, this will have no impact on the effectiveness of homeopathic medicine, so we can just increase funding in that direction and heal people that way. This will also have no impact on the power of prayer - that will also continue to be as effective as it is now.

 

so, nothing to worry about.

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I remember back around 2000, when my wife was working as a district vet, she said that there would be a big problem one day, because farmers just wanted to get antibiotics to their animals and were managing to bully a lot of weaker vets into it. That means a steady low level drip of antibiotics into the system, exactly the perfect situation for building resistance. She was sick of hearing the equivalent of "Look love, just give us the antibiotics like the other vets do and we'll take care of it all.".

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I remember back around 2000, when my wife was working as a district vet, she said that there would be a big problem one day, because farmers just wanted to get antibiotics to their animals and were managing to bully a lot of weaker vets into it. That means a steady low level drip of antibiotics into the system, exactly the perfect situation for building resistance. She was sick of hearing the equivalent of "Look love, just give us the antibiotics like the other vets do and we'll take care of it all.".

 

And thats in a country with relatively good vetinary and farming practice. Some countries use antibiotics for farm animals as a treatment for outbreaks of disease but many use massive amounts as prophylactics - ie to prevent the disease which is inevitable from stocking too many animals in too small a space. Chile for example uses 1,000 times more antibiotics in its farmed salmon than Norway does. And what happens it you add antibiotics to sea creatures in pens? it leaches out and hgets into wild fish at low doses, perfect for breeding resistance.

http://oceana.org/blog/chilean-salmon-industry-found-use-highest-amount-antibiotics-worldwide

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And thats in a country with relatively good vetinary and farming practice. Some countries use antibiotics for farm animals as a treatment for outbreaks of disease but many use massive amounts as prophylactics - ie to prevent the disease which is inevitable from stocking too many animals in too small a space. Chile for example uses 1,000 times more antibiotics in its farmed salmon than Norway does. And what happens it you add antibiotics to sea creatures in pens? it leaches out and hgets into wild fish at low doses, perfect for breeding resistance.

http://oceana.org/blog/chilean-salmon-industry-found-use-highest-amount-antibiotics-worldwide

 

This was actually Sweden, but the same applies. The fish thing is a big issue. Because of the plentiful food leaking down, huge amounts of fish hang around the fish farms and do indeed consume antibiotics in low amounts, building up the resistance.

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I remember back around 2000, when my wife was working as a district vet, she said that there would be a big problem one day, because farmers just wanted to get antibiotics to their animals and were managing to bully a lot of weaker vets into it. That means a steady low level drip of antibiotics into the system, exactly the perfect situation for building resistance. She was sick of hearing the equivalent of "Look love, just give us the antibiotics like the other vets do and we'll take care of it all.".

 

Can't really blame the farmers - they just have to compete within the market. Like climate change this is a problem amplified by the capitalist system we live in.

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Can't really blame the farmers - they just have to compete within the market. Like climate change this is a problem amplified by the capitalist system we live in.

 

Trouble is that pharmaceuticals are an industry where they can only be sorted with private companies following a profit motive.

 

Pharma companies spend billions on drugs that never make a penny or make it to market because they have to pass test after test after test over a course of 10 or so years in order to gain approval from the regulators.

 

Cancer survival rates wouldn't have doubled (and in the cases of things like testicular cancer - be damn near cured when 50-odd years ago your life was on a coinflip), were it not for the incredible leaps forward in drug technology because of the ruthless competition between pharma companies for the next blockbuster drug.

 

Trouble is that whilst capitalism is good, its not flawless and main problems with antibiotics are twofold

 

1) As has been mentioned, we're pumping chickens and other livestock full of them in what's considered a modern day 'farm' (which is really just shelves upon shelves of chickens wasting away in their own faeces whilst pumped full of chemicals, steroids and other assorted crap).

 

2) Whilst you can't research drugs without capitalism, capitalism obviously isn't perfect; antibiotics aren't as commercially profitable as drugs for cancer/aids/alzheimer's/hell, even erectile drugs make a fortune in the first-world market. Governments have to incentive antibiotic research and obviously that means higher taxes or in our case, cuts to other areas the NHS budget is spent on.

 

Its a mess

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