Superbug superhero: 3 ways you can easily avoid antibiotic drug abuse
Antibiotic resistance is a major health threat that causes almost 700,000 deaths a year, and its toll will rise
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This article was originally published on The Conversation.
Nevada officials in January reported the death of a woman from an infection resistant to every antibiotic available in the United States — the type of news we will likely hear more about in the future unless health care providers and consumers change their ways.
A high-level report in 2014 estimated that as many as 10 million people a year could die worldwide from antibiotic resistance by 2050.
It is so urgent an issue that the U.N. General Assembly took up the global threat of antibiotic resistance in September.
This was only the fourth health issue ever to be considered by the United Nations, after HIV, noncommunicable diseases and Ebola. World leaders from multiple countries have pledged to increase awareness on global antibiotic resistance as well as to encourage best practices among the general public, health workers and policy makers to avoid the further emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance.
But as an infectious disease specialist, I know that individuals like you and me can have their own stewardship program and play a part in addressing antibiotic resistance.
Overuse at home, hospital and farm
Overuse of an antibiotic — medicine designed to kill bacterial infections — leads bacteria to build resistance to these drugs, thus becoming what is commonly called a “superbug.”
Patients who are admitted to a U.S. hospital have a one in seven chance of acquiring a superbug while in the hospital.
This overuse does not have to happen. According to the CDC, almost 50 percent of outpatient antibiotic prescriptions for patients with acute respiratory conditions are unnecessary.
Each year in the United States, at least two million people become infected with bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics, and at least 23,000 people die each year as a direct result of these infections.
In the hospital setting, one in two patients will receive an antibiotic.
The CDC published a report in 2013 that lists the top 18 drug-resistant threats to the United States. One of the bacteria listed as an urgent threat is clostridium difficile, or C. difficile, which causes diarrhea that is potentially life threatening. C. difficile diarrhea is a known side effect that can occur from any antibiotic.
The CDC estimates about 15,000 people die from C. difficile infections every year. The more sobering statistic is that many of these deaths are preventable because the antibiotic that causes the C. difficile diarrhea is actually unnecessary.
The overuse and unnecessary use of antibiotics is not just limited to human health. The CDC states almost 80 percent of antibiotic use in the United States is given to feed animals as growth promoters. When feed animals such as cows, pigs and chickens are given antibiotics for growth promotion, bacteria are exposed to low doses of antibiotics over a long period of time. This type of exposure to antibiotics can also lead to the survival and growth of superbugs.
How to stop it
In an effort to help hospitals develop antibiotic prescribing improvement programs called “antibiotic stewardship” programs, the CDC and the Infectious Diseases Society of America have developed toolkits and guidelines to assist health care providers in the fight against antibiotic resistant “superbugs.”
The battle against super bugs will not be won, however, until consumers and patients join in. Few, if any, new antibiotics are in the pipeline.
One solution to fighting superbugs is having your own, personal antibiotic stewardship. Consumers, patients, and health care providers can all become antibiotic steward “superheroes.”
A different kind of drug abuse
When people begin to feel “sick,” they often will seek out medication to treat their symptoms, even if medication is not warranted. Health care providers sometimes feel pressured by patients to prescribe antibiotics, and sometimes providers see prescribing them as the fastest way to get a patient out of the office.