Smoking-gun proof that misuse of antibiotics breeds superbugs

[Pastor Dale Morgan]

*
Plagues, Pestilences and Diseases*

February 10, 1:14 PM

*Smoking-gun proof that misuse of antibiotics breeds superbugs*

Medical experts have long assumed that misuse of antibiotics breeds
drug-resistant superbugs, but a newly released study has finally
provided smoking-gun proof as to how this occurs.

Bacterial diseases that were once easy to treat, such as tuberculosis,
gonorrhoea, typhus and pneumonia, are becoming ever-tougher challenges
as germs evolve into strains that outstrip science's ability to keep up.

The new research provides hard evidence that antibiotics which are
mismatched to the type of bacteria being targeted can hike this
worsening resistance problem.

In the experiment, Surbhi Malhotra-Kumar and a team of microbiologists
in Belgium and the Netherlands gave a partial course of two
macrolide-class antibiotics -- clarithromycin and azithromycin -- that
are commonly prescribed for bronchial infections to two
randomly-selected groups of 74 people, one drug for each group.

They also gave placebos to a control group, which was to provide a
yardstick for any changes observed.

The drug-taking subjects were not sick. The point was to monitor the
drugs' effect on streptococci bacteria that were normal and harmless
components of the flora in the mouth and throat.

The verdict was ironclad. Azithromycin swiftly created large numbers of
bacteria that were resistant to macrolides, while clarithromycin
encouraged the emergence of a highly resistant form.

This form was not only more resistant to macrolides, it also showed
greater resistance to lincosamide, streptogramin B and tetracycline
antibiotics.

The study, which is published by The Lancet, found that antibiotics had
an enduring effect on this oral bacteria, of more than 180 days.

In other words, the harmless bacteria became a potential reservoir of
drug-resistant DNA for pathogenic ones.

Penicillin is usually the weapon of choice for tackling harmful forms
streptococci, but doctors often resort to macrolides if a patient is
allergic to that drug.

In an assessment of the work, Stephanie Dancer, a microbiologist at
Southern General Hospital in Glasgow, Scotland, said the finding
provided crucial evidence to back a commonly-observed problem about
misprescribed or misused antibiotics.

"All of us could see what was happening, but now we have proof," she
told AFP in an interview.

The stakes could hardly be higher, said Dancer.

"It is an immense problem ... that is affecting every antimicrobial
agent that Man has been able to find," she said. "We are squandering a
precious resource."

She pointed the finger in particular at purchases of antibiotics over
the counter or the Internet, and urged the launch of a public awareness
campaign on the lines of "No drugs for bugs -- unless needed."