What if common infections could kill in great numbers again?
Is our optimistic faith in science about to be shattered? Are we heading back to the dark ages in medicine?
Before the early 20th century, treatments for infections were based primarily on folklore. Louis Pasteur, Alexander Fleming and other scientists worked hard and suffered to produce the treatments that we all now take for granted.
Chief among these are the antibiotics that most of us take as a first defense against all sorts of common infections. Before the era of antibiotics, before 1941 that is, in some countries as many as 20% of women died after giving birth because there was almost no way to treat many infections.
The list of diseases we are all in danger from in the next five years, as the era of effective antibiotics ends includes:
- dental infections
- blood, kidney and urinary infections
- TB, pneumonia and other chest infections
- Gonorrhea and other STDs (Chlamydia is the leading cause of infectious blindness in the 3rd world)
- Surgical wound infections – most surgery would not be possible without antibiotics
- Chemo and transplants will not be possible
- Typhoid fever, diphtheria, leprosy, Bubonic plague - which kills 2 out 3 infected individuals without antibiotic treatment.
Why is this happening?
Bacteria of all the above classes are becoming immune to antibiotics as they evolve. In some cases even the strongest antibiotics are ineffective in treating simple infections. This evolution was bound to happen. Our willingness to take antibiotics as an easy cure-all and our unwillingness to finish a course of treatment have all contributed to the evolution of antibiotic resistant bacteria.
It looks very much like the future is going to end up like the past. There are not enough antibiotic development programs worldwide, profits are low in this area, and despite our knowledge of all this governments are still not intervening to make it easier to invest in groundbreaking science. Even if they did start now we are likely to face a period where your doctor might shake his head when you come in with an infection and say, “We can’t treat this infection anymore.”
So what can we all do?
1. Stop taking antibiotics unless there is a very good reason. Otherwise the above situation will come even quicker.
2. Wash our hands before meals & when we come home, like your mother used to teach you.
3. Encourage others to do the same.
So what has this to do with The Istanbul Puzzle, my novel launched January 19, 2012, by Harper Collins? It’s a part of the plot.
The Istanbul Puzzle cover art
You’re just trying to scare us…
Does that mean it’s not true?
of course it’s true and it’s sickening. Vaccines include antibiotics as well as the antibiotic that we get from the bovine DNA from antibiotics injected into cows and feed. Hope anyone who is vegan knows this. Vaccines that BTW completely bypass the bodies natural immunity (the intestines) by being injected directly into the bloodstream. And people wonder why we are not only antibiotic resistant, but why our society has more diseases than ever before. Cancer, Alzheimer’s, Autism, Higher allergy rates, more illness and death among mostly children thanks to those 88+ shots with the 112+ ingredients the FDA wouldn’t dare allow to be put in a household cleaner, yet finds it okay to inject these pure bodies of innocent children with 88+ shots before they’re 18! Fetal tissue (HDT), Food colorings (a.k.a. coal tar), bovine serum, formaldehyde, mercury, aluminum, sucrose, Sorbitol, etc etc etc. Is sickening. Research, research, research. Educate yourself from ALL angles from reputable sources…..NOT just because the Dr. said so (kickbacks!?)
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/downloads/appendices/B/excipient-table-1.pdf
and research beyond the cr*p the cdc does not want us to see. It’s a choice to be made by each individual based on their own findings of extensive research and educated choices. NOT to pushed down the throats of people through fear!
So, YES….please wash your hands and then some because good hygiene is ‘the best’ and first defense & proper nutritional intake if one is lucky enough to be able to do so! Vaccines began being introduced when better hygiene and clean water became more strict, but the spin goes to the vaccines helping without the correlation of the change in hygiene among us being given due justice in preventing dis-ease.
Thank you Laurence for sharing this article!
From past experience I expect a lot of hate back to me from this post so I will not respond to any hate. I don’t need nor want hate in my life. I just wish to share and hope others go into things more educated.
Some countries have relatively tight controls on prescribing anti-biotics for the very reasons you outline. Here in New Zealand — where I currently happen to live — the GPs give them out like smarties at a kid’s party.
“Ah little Robbie’s got a sore throat.”
“Stick him on penicillin V with extra sweets”
Unfortunately for us all, microbes do not understand jurisdictional boundaries. Actions here in NZ could well be fatal for others, in the long run.
But if you put yourself in the shoes of the poor GP- trying to withstand the constant onslaught from patients demanding an antibiotic for the virus the antibiotic can’t fix. – day in day out.
Then the letters off to the complaints commission about that cruel GP who didn’t treat my infection- now look I had to miss a week from work because of his ignorance (never mind it would have made no difference). Nevermind when it turns out it’s meningoccal meningitis and that hard hearted , ignorant GP/ Emergency dr missed the subtle/absent signs- refused to hand out antibiotics – now poor Johnny’s dead . NZ is tighter than many other countries including US
It’s sad to think that, society’s over-taking of antibiotics means that, at some point, it may not matter how sparingly I use them. We’ve moved past a single person getting in trouble from taking too many; those around us who do it, and then spread infection to us, could become unwilling killers. It’s sad that it didn’t have to happen — not this fast, anyway.
I have lupus. I’m sick ALL the time. And the docs who treat me regularly judge when my infection is enough to merit an antibiotic, because if I had them every time I was sick (people with lupus get sick ALL THE TIME), then I would be in trouble.
It must be very difficult. I wish you well and thank you for your comments. Every one of us has a responsibility, but for some the impact is immediate and very real.
Ancient diseases can be re-packaged – check out the Alex Jones show – fact or fiction ???
It’s not just antibiotics being mis- and overused. a key treatment for AIDS is antiretroviral drugs (ARTs). Now these are increasingly not jsut being used for treatment but as prevention in programs called PREPP – pre-exposure prophylaxis.
HIV evolves quickly, possibly more so than bacteria, and becomes resistant to ARTs quickly. Have the present generation of doctors forgotten the havoc their seniors wreaked with the inappropriate prescribing of antibiotics? Indeed, will strains of multi-resistant, rapidly-evolving HIV remain predominantly sexually-transmitted? Watch this space.
Thanks Gerry…a very timely intervention…and scary news….Laurence
HIV… I wonder though might we be missing a huge point here? People DIE from HIV -a huge killer but only in 3rd world- for young women especially (check WHO). Isn’t our goal to save lives? Does the 3rd world matter? Treatment now is at the point where no one need die. The barrier to saving lives now is funding to supply these drugs – not overuse .
Prevention of course comes into it- women being infected by men who don’t practice safe sex etc- then pass it on to their babies. We could prevent HIV/ aids- but then that’s more money-funding for general and more specifically sexual education especially for women in 3rd world and also hopefully for vaccines. It could be eradicated by all these measures with enough money thrown at it- which would benefit all of us. . Third world out of sight – out of mind
Jane, read The Trial of the Century, a novel based on veiled facts, to change the way you look at HIV and especially AIDS. Thought provoking.
Thanks – among the scareist things we have to face, the return of the diseases that meant you could die from a bad tooth!
I wonder if we can blame governments or drs entirely It’s Drug companies , frequently painted as bad guys for making huge profits- who develop these drugs- a long often fruitless, hugely expensive process. Governments interfere with their patents- reducing their profits- even though that results in better 3rd world availability . So it’s complex.
There have been no new abiotics for ages. That’s a worry but then patients are the ones who demand the drugs – who take them without properly testing for evidence of any real need & then taking incomplete courses to encourage resistance.
On other hand progress with Antiretoviral drugs -has been great.
the governements should remove the antibiotics from free market ,here in Albania south eeurope you can by them in every drugstore as easy as an asperine without presciption damn ,we will be facing with real problems soon,,,,,,,i read somewhere that even hand antibacterials werent good they can create resistent bacteria ,how true is this ?
You are right that antibiotics should be more difficult to buy. I don’t know about hand antibacterials, but I do know that a little dirt is good for the immune system.
Thanks for your comment. All the best from Ireland.
I believe people are overly reactive when it comes to the concept of germs. A good handwashing for 15-30 seconds with simple soap and water will get rid of the germs on your hands. And neither children nor adults should be shepherded off to the doctor for every little sniffle and ache and pain. The world of instant gratification is killing us.
Reblogged this on oogenhand and commented:
This is very important, and very dangerous. Not just political and religious extremism is dangerous.
I absolutely agree with you. When I was two years old I was put on antibiotics for eighteen years as I had chronic kidney issues. I am now allergic to a couple of ‘classes’ of antibiotics. I constantly have to remind my specialist of this fact. Thanks for the reminder.
I wonder if widespread antibiotic use in the food chain (meats, milk and egg producers) has contributed to resistence, working like homeopthic remedies by applying small doses. Any thoughts on this notion?
Cool premise for your novel, looking forward to reading it.