The discovery and widespread use of antibiotics many decades ago have saved millions of lives. Infections that were once a death sentence were easily treated with the medications. Unfortunately, many antibiotics are now becoming ineffective because bacteria have become resistant to the drugs.
We have overused antibiotics with reckless abandon and are now beginning to see the consequences. Some bacteria have mutated into “superbugs”.
We’ve used antibiotics so freely, some bacteria have mutated into so-called “superbugs.” They’ve become resistant to the very drugs designed to kill them. A study commissioned by the British government estimates that by 2050, 10 million people worldwide could die each year from antibiotic-resistant bacteria. That’s more than currently die from cancer. (source)
Infections by drug-resistant microbes may eventually be the leading cause of death.
The World Health Organization predicts that worldwide death rates from drug-resistant microbes will climb from the current 700,000 per year to 10 million by 2050. At that point, they will have surpassed cancer, heart disease, and diabetes to become the main cause of death in the human race.
Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest health threats of our time, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):
Antibiotic resistance has the potential to affect people at any stage of life, as well as the healthcare, veterinary, and agriculture industries, making it one of the world’s most urgent public health problems.
Each year in the U.S., at least 2 million people are infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and at least 23,000 people die as a result. (source)
Karen Hoffmann, who heads the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, told Newsweek those figures may be on the low side:
“It’s probably a vast underestimate. We don’t have a good reporting system for multiresistant organisms, so we don’t really know.”
Studies suggest the cost to the U.S. health care system of treating patients with these resistant infections tops $3 billion a year.
Bacterial infections are becoming more difficult to treat.
Infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria are difficult (and sometimes impossible) to treat. In most cases, antibiotic-resistant infections require extended hospital stays, long-term medical care, and costly and toxic alternatives.
Earlier this year, four patients became infected with an unusual version of E. coli at Columbia University’s Irving Medical Center in New York earlier this year. Because E. coli has developed resistance to several drugs, for some infected patients their last hope is the antibiotic colistin, a toxic substance with potential side effects that include kidney and brain damage. But, the Columbia E. coli had a mutation in a gene, MCR-1, that confers a terrifying attribute: imperviousness to colistin.
“We’re looking to the shelf for the next antibiotic, and there’s nothing there,” says Erica Shenoy, associate chief of the infection control unit at Massachusetts General Hospital, told Newsweek. “We’re facing the specter of patients with infections we can’t treat.”
E. coli isn’t the only bacterium that is becoming resistant to treatment.
Drug-resistant strains of Staphylococcus, Enterobacteriaceae, and Clostridium difficile have been steadily overcoming antibiotics. According to Newsweek, “one study found that the number of deaths due to resistant infections quintupled between 2007 and 2015.”
Other kinds of infections are also becoming resistant to treatment.
Just as antibiotic overuse has contributed to the rise of resistant bacteria, overuse of antimicrobial drugs is helping fungi becoming resistant.
Treatment-resistant versions of the fungus Candida auris have been occurring across the world. Last May, an elderly man became infected and doctors were not able to save him.
What happened after his death is horrifying:
The man at Mount Sinai died after 90 days in the hospital, but C. auris did not. Tests showed it was everywhere in his room, so invasive that the hospital needed special cleaning equipment and had to rip out some of the ceiling and floor tiles to eradicate it.
“Everything was positive — the walls, the bed, the doors, the curtains, the phones, the sink, the whiteboard, the poles, the pump,” said Dr. Scott Lorin, the hospital’s president. “The mattress, the bed rails, the canister holes, the window shades, the ceiling, everything in the room was positive.” (source)
Scientists are exploring alternatives to antibiotics.
In response to the growing number of bugs that are drug-resistant, scientists are learning to identify and isolate them in hopes of preventing large outbreaks. They are also making efforts to tighten up the use of antibiotics in an effort to slow the development of resistant strains, but many experts say it is too late, and that these actions will only buy us a little time:
At the moment, the oldest and weakest patients in hospitals are most affected, but the risks are spreading. “We’re seeing healthy young people with urinary tract and skin infections that we don’t have a pill for,” says Helen Boucher, an infectious disease specialist at Tufts Medical Center in Boston. “And we may not be able to perform organ transplants, and even routine surgeries like joint replacements. We should all be scared.”
Medical experts are pinning their hopes on entirely new strategies for dealing with infection. To find novel ways of killing bugs, they’re looking in exotic places—in viruses and fish slime and even on other planets. They’re using insights gained in genomics and other fields to come up with new technologies to kill bugs and keep them from spreading. And they are re-examining practices in hospitals and other spreading-grounds for bacteria, putting in place more holistic strategies for managing the bacteria in our bodies and in our hospitals and doctors’ offices.
The alternatives sound promising, but they are far off. It’s not clear that we can invent new weapons before the superbugs, like a zombie army at the gates, overwhelm our defenses.
“We need to make a huge investment in other approaches,” says Margaret Riley, a drug-resistance researcher at the University of Massachusetts. “And we need to make it 15 years ago.” (source)
There isn’t much incentive to develop new antibiotics, mainly because the development of one new antibiotic costs about $2 billion and takes about 10 years, and the likelihood of drug companies making a profit on such drugs is low.
“The point of having a new antibiotic would be to use it as infrequently as possible, for as short a time as possible,” Jonathan Zenilman, chief of the division of infectious diseases at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore, told Newsweek. “Why would a pharma company want to develop a drug for a market like that?”
Researchers are looking into antibiotic alternatives, including the use of special soaps and infection control techniques, treatment with genetically-modified viruses called bacteriophages that are a natural enemy of bacteria, and other non-antibiotic treatments.
A recent 60 Minutes report explored the danger posed by superbugs, starting with the shocking case of David Ricci:
To read the transcript of this video, please click here: Could Antibiotic-Resistant “Superbugs” Become a Bigger Killer Than Cancer?
What do you think?
Do you think drug-resistant infections are going to become a serious public health threat? What measures do you take to avoid infection? Please share your thoughts in the comments.
About the Author
Dagny Taggart is the pseudonym of an experienced journalist who needs to maintain anonymity to keep her job in the public eye. Dagny is non-partisan and aims to expose the half-truths, misrepresentations, and blatant lies of the MSM.
People are looking in the wrong place for protection from superbugs; it is their own healthy microbiome that will ward off sickness when exposed to such. I eat an organic diet, avoid anti-bacterials, and wear a medical ID necklace that says “no antibiotics” among other things. Once I allow the medical establishment to administer an antibiotic then I become one of the ‘weakest’ mentioned in the article because my goodbugs are wiped out allowing antibiotic-resistant superbugs to take over the playing field. Not a good idea.
I’m thinking we may need to start looking at herbs and tentures made with them as well as some of the old time remedies. I used usnea to help reduce my sons abcessed tooth to half the size overnight. Their are many herbs and foods (like garlic) that fight infections. They have been scorned ( Like I used to ) by modern folks often because they don’t cure at quickly as antibiotic. But we may need to explore them more and turn to them when our modern treatments don’t work.
Oregano essential oil, taken internally in melted coconut oil, cured my strep throat quickly plus a urinary tract infection in someone I know. Antibiotics would have done more harm than good.
A tea of oregano and mullein will knock out a cold or sore throat if you catch it at the first signs. A little honey helps make it go down better.
Oregano essential oil is a broad spectrum antibiotic, so would work wonderfully for strep throats or other infections, but is not much different than taking a pharmaceutical antibiotic in that it would have the same effect on the “good bacteria” in your body.
Essential oils are highly refined, concentrated substances.
Pharmaceutical drugs are highly refined, concentrated substances.
Oregano itself, while not as “strong,” would have similar (albeit slower) effects, in a gentler way which the body can process. So if the goal is to support the body and not do harm, essential oils are not the answer. If the goal is to simply wipe out infection (along with other bacteria, good or bad), essential oils or pharmaceutical antibiotics are pretty synonymous.
I’m not slamming essential oils at all. (There are many that say no essential oil should be taken internally. There are many that use them internally.) I also believe antibiotics have their place for use when needed to save a life. I’m simply saying everyone should make FULLY INFORMED choices about their own health, and not just blindly go along with what BigPharma, the acronymed government offices, or the next big health trend says is good or safe.
What about vibratory energy medicine?
The technologies are available right now to be free of microbe caused and associated disease and illness. These technologies are inexpensive, fast acting, and generally safe. This article will describe and explain how some of these technologies work and where you can find out more about them. http://www.rifeenergymedicine.com/vema.html
Eventually something/bug will come along where those with weakened immune system will fall easily.
Used to be the very young and very old were the most likely.
Nowadays, with people so germ phobic, the inbetween are just as likely to fall.
I am not saying dont wash your hands or quit bathing. But there is nothing wrong with getting your hands dirty, or being exposed to a not so surgical clean room.
I know of some preppers who run to the doctors office for every little thing, demanding an antibiotic, or worse, self medicating their own antibiotics.
And we wonder how these bugs develop immunity to antibiotics . . . the over use of them.
There may come a time when Silver is one of our few options left to stop antibiotic resistant superbugs. I have some friends that think a few small bottles of Colloidal Silver will be sufficient in such emergencies. I disagree and have several ways of making my own greater quantities as needed. My understanding is that for treating normal bugs you want to take smaller amounts more frequently such as a tablespoon-full every hour or two until you are better. Theoretically this will not damage your microbiome as much as bigger doses but will still allow the silver to get into your bloodstream. My feeling is that if you are facing a serious internal bacterial illness or a serious tissue infection, that you will likely need to take larger doses at a time to hopefully save your life, and will therefore need much larger quantities of CS. For this you will need a CS generator and distilled water. Any other thoughts on this?
How did people deal with illnesses before antibiotics? Will those old ways still work?
In the medieval period up through 1800, cities were not sustainable. They survived only by absorbing the excess population from rural areas.
As late as 1900, about 25% of children born in London died before adulthood. My father’s father was born in 1891, came from a family of 13 children, they all survived into adulthood. My mother’s mother was the oldest of seven, all survived. They were farm families, Had they lived in London, five of those children would have died.
What was the difference that rural areas were so much healthier than the cities? I’m not making the claim that all rural children survived, but many more did than city children, so what made the difference? What can they teach us to help us survive a post-antibiotic world?
It never ceases to amaze me how quickly ignorance of colloidal silver can multiply in a supposedly literate population as preppers are alleged to be.
I have mastoyed infections in both ears and have had to have 2 surgeries on each ear. i have 2 different bacteria that have become superbugs E.coli and another i dont rember the name of. when the infections act up i have to have iv antibiotics and they keep infecting my blood. This all started after i had lake water get into my ear after a bad fall while knee boarding in pineflat lake here in Fresno Ca. I got an ear infection and the Dr. treated me with Cipro which is the same antibiotic the treat anthrax with and he had me take it again after i returned a few months later with bad ear ache and it did not help but he kept me on the Cipro for over a month. then had to have surgery where they go in and scrape the infection off the bone. that was 25 years and many many doses of all kinds of oral antibiotics which led to a Dr taking a culture of both ears and me getting a kind of worrying call from that Dr telling or warning me that the bacteria in my ears were known as superbug bacteria which were then (10 years ago) completely resistant to all oral antibiotics that there were and highly resistant to most iv antibiotics. Im now 51 and it has gotten to the point where the iv antibiotics only helps get the bacteria out of my blood system but has no effect on the infections in both ears all because an overzealous Dr treated my ear infection with the strongest oral antibiotic out Cipro and when there was no improvement he kept me on them longer instead of trying a different antibiotic.
Three things use DMSO orally along with antibiotics, it is a carrier and gets the antibiotics into the bacteria.
Second look into fungi concentrates they are a natural evloved antibiotic. Paul stamets is leader in this feild.
Third if as critical as you say you might want to get EBOO done in Europe. EBOO is extracirclatory blood oxygenation and ozone. It has amazing cure ratio. University of sienna used to offer treatments.
A family member is a retired ER nurse. She worked in a hospital that received many nursing home patients regularly. She saw patients who were antibiotic resistant and had superbugs as well. She was a nurse for 40+ years and is now retired. She said this was “scary sh*t!” It is a prevalent problem for sure.