“We need to make the best use of the drugs we have, as there aren’t many in the antibiotic development pipeline,” says Dr. Jane Knisely, who oversees studies of drug-resistant bacteria at NIH. “It’s important to understand the best way to use these drugs to increase their effectiveness and decrease the chances of resistance to emerge.”
MRSA
In the near past, hospitals were about the only place you would acquire superbugs. These tended to hit hospital patients because of their weakened immune systems and illnesses. Recently, there have been cases of some superbug strains found outside of hospital settings. It seems that even healthy people in the community can be infected.
MRSA stands for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. It causes nasty skin infections, pneumonia, or serious bloodstream infections. The skin infection involves one or more boils or pimples that are painful and hot to the touch and swollen.
MRSA can spread through the tiniest break in the skin that has contact with the super bacteria. The CDC estimates 80,000 cases of MRSA infections in this country and 11,000 MRSA-related deaths annually. And in recent years, there has been one superbug discovered that is resistant to the antibiotic of last choice. Scary stuff.
The World Health Organization calls antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria “the greatest threats facing human health.”
Agricultural Use of Antibiotics
It is estimated that about two-thirds of the misuse of antibiotics is in the agricultural sector. The use of antibiotics is for the prevention of illness and to promote growth in chickens and livestock. And that is a straight shot to the dining room table. There is more and more concern about the Salmanella and the Campylobacter bacteria as foodborne diseases.