NEW PUBLIC HEALTH CRISES ARE GAINING STRENGTH BECAUSE OF UNINTENDED REACTIONS TO ANTIBIOTICS

In the 50 years since antibiotics have come into widespread use, we have bred many levels of drug resistance into every known kind of disease-causing bacterium. We have made this mistake by often “carpet-bombing” our body’s normally resident microbes as we treat infections as simple as an earache or cold. In addition we have been smothering our livestock with these same drugs, not only to cure their infections but also to make them grow so they can be sold quickly and cheaply. Some of these drug resistant bacteria, we wanted to eliminate, have landed on our dinner plate. This process has helped us to run through the potency of more than 100 different antibiotics so they are almost useless in most cases to stop the germ onslaught on our bodies. One example is that tuberculosis occurrence is rising again and this time it may be many times as destructive as before. Even asthma has become much more of a problem, especially in the young.

Clearly what we have done to ourselves in mounting a frontal assault on these virulent microbes is not the best strategy. We have begun research programs to domesticate our problem microbes…much as our ancestors once turned wolves into pets that guarded rather than preyed upon their sheep. This is a futuristic approach that is already having some successes in small ways. For instance a nasal spray filled with “beneficial” bacteria helps prevent chronic childhood ear infections. Even a bioengineered strain of mouth bacteria that prevents rather than causes tooth decay is being implemented.

We are at a crossroads, as author Jessica Snyder Sachs tells us, in her most complete book called “Good Germs, Bad Germs.” A new generation of microbe hunters has begun to use genetic analysis or DNA fingerprinting to comb each body for hidden infections. They also have seen evidence that such common ills as arthritis, heart disease, and even Alzheimer’s may have been caused by some infection…at least in part. Will  this be the answer to our future successful treatment of these scourges? Only time and much research will tell us for sure. But we cannot go on the way we are. The next time you are offered an antibiotic for something simple, ask if there is any other way to treat your problem.