Antibiotic Resistance Is Here And It's Scary
By Melissa McEwen in Food on Apr 30, 2014 7:00PM
A new World Health Organization report shows that antibiotic resistance is an emerging global health threat. Antibiotic resistance means these valuable bacteria-killing drugs will no longer be able to effectively treat potentially-deadly infections. "The world is headed for a post-antibiotic era," says Dr Keiji Fukuda.
The WHO report emphasizes the importance of governmental tracking of antibiotic use and resistant infections. Preventing infections and careful use of antibiotics (that means stop using them for colds- which are viruses, and finishing the entire dosage) is also key.
Unfortunately, the report says that many valuable antibiotics are used in concentrated livestock production to produce cheap pork, chicken and beef. These are not just for treating sick animals, but fed continuously to herds in order to promote growth and mitigate the negative effects of concentrating so many animals together. Estimates indicate that 80% of antibiotics in the US are fed to livestock. The WHO report states that "urgent action is needed to avoid inappropriate use, and to reduce antibiotic usage in animal husbandry and aquaculture, as well as in humans."
The Food and Drug Administration has moved to reduce antibiotic use in the livestock industry, but their new rules may have only a very limited effect.
A terrifying Medium article by Maryn McKenna imagined what a post-antibiotic world would look like. It would mean people dying from infections some of us might consider pretty minor.