What comes after antibiotics?

[microrobert]

What comes after antibiotics?

The three greatest boons to public health in history have been public sanitation (clean water), vaccines, and antibiotics. Misguided parents groups aside, vaccines are still mostly recognized as crucial for preventing many infectious diseases, and nobody is clamoring to eliminate sewers.

But the future existence of antibiotics is seriously in jeopardy: not from any effort to stop using them but from the consequences of their misuse.

Antibiotic resistance is fast on the rise among bacteria, including some of the most dangerous varieties such as tuberculosis and staphylococcus.

http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/savv...e_skin;content

[Heart of Oak]

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EDITIONS


Change to World


Friday, 5 November, 1999, 20:12 GMT
Antibiotics
Superbugs - bacteria that resist the effects of the most powerful antibiotics - are being reported more and more frequently. Some doctors see their rise as heralding the end of the age of antibiotics. BBC News Online's health team presents an overview of the past, present and future of the 20th century's greatest medical breakthrough.


The emerging superbug
Visa is resistant to just about every antibiotic known to medicine and has been discovered in hospitals from Japan to Scotland - find out where it comes from and why it has got doctors worried.
News reports
Window of superbug vulnerability opens
We can stop bug, say doctors
Superbug kills Hong Kong woman
Superbug beats superdrug
Salmonella superbug on the rise
'Don't panic over superbugs'
Media choice
The UK's first superbug
BBC Scotland's Asad Ahmed at the site of the UK's first superbug - the Royal Glasgow Infirmary


A brief history of antibiotics
Antibiotics have revolutionised medical care in the 20th century, but in recent years bugs have been winning the battle against the medical profession.
News reports
Penicillin mould sells for thousands
Superbug threat looms ever larger
Action needed to prevent 'superbugs'
Fears over antibiotic policy
Media choice
Living history
Sharon Alcock gets a close up view of Alexander Fleming's penicillin at a sale of medical instruments
Changing use
BBC Health Correspondent Richard Hannaford examines variation in European practice


Bacteria: A bug's life
Meet the most successful organism on earth, and find out why it poses a threat to humans.
News reports
Warning over bacteria threat
Six diseases threaten world
Bugs play hide and seek with antibiotics
How bacteria tell the time
Bladder bugs beat drugs
Infertility linked to bacterial infection


A future for antibiotics?
If superbugs eventually defeat doctors, what does the medical world have up its sleeve? BBC News Online finds out.
News reports

Superbugs: The scientists hit back
Scientists predict wave of cheap, new drugs
Meet the viral bug busters
Superbug could be conquered
'Switching off' disease
Drug 'blows apart' bacteria
Media choice

Research difficulties
Douglas Georgala, chairman of the government's advisory committee on antibiotics, says the development of new antibiotics is becoming more and more difficult
The master switch
BBC Science Correspondent Christine McGourty examines the potential of a technique that "turns off" bacteria
At the cutting edge
BBC Science Correspondent Pallab Ghosh hears from scientists at the 1999 British Association Festival of Science


A patient's guide
Antibiotics are useful in combating bacterial illnesses, but doctors say patients need to be aware of the do and don'ts of using them.
News reports
Antibiotic confusion 'widespread'
Information campaign needed on antibiotics
'No quick fix' for flu
DIY treatment urged for colds and flu
Media choice

What patients want
Roger Odd and Dr Rosemary Leonard discuss why "typical patients" demand antibiotics from their doctor
Informed patients
Dr George Rae of the British Medical Association says the way forward is about education
The task ahead
Dr Simon Fradd, of the Doctor Patient Partnership, says it will take a long time to change public opinion


Managing demand
Doctors often complain they feel under pressure to prescribe antibiotics to keep patients happy. BBC Doctor Colin Thomas describes his experiences.
News reports
Doctors accused of 'dishing out' antibiotics
Curb on antibiotics
Media choice

Doctors' perspective
Richard Hannaford meets doctors' leaders, who say the problem of over-prescribing is small
Burden of responsibility
Charlotte Gann, editor of Health Which? magazine tells the BBC that doctors have to take the lead


Countryside resistance
Antibiotics have been used in farming since their introduction, but fears about the increasing risk of superbugs have led to their use being curbed. BBC Environment Correspondent Alex Kirby looks at the current state of play.
News reports
Farmers warned of antibiotic threat
Animals and antibiotics: The benefits
Animals and antibiotics: The dangers
Media choice

Standard procedure
BBC Environment Correspondent Margaret Gilmore says thousands of pigs, poultry and some sheep and cattle are routinely given antibiotics
Freely available
BBC Environment Correspondent Richard Wilson investigates access to antibiotics - which farmers can get without a prescription


See also:

04 Nov 99|Health
Superbug death toll rises
05 Nov 99|Health
GPs blamed for 'local superbugs'
05 Nov 99|Health
Expert warns against superbug 'epidemic'
Internet links:

Antibiotic resistance

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites
Top Antibiotics stories now:

Antibiotics
The emerging superbug
A brief history of antibiotics
Bacteria: A bug's life
A future for antibiotics?
Dos and don'ts of taking antibiotics
When 'no' is the hardest word
Why farm antibiotics are a worry

Links to more Antibiotics stories are at the foot of the page.


There will be some other Wonder drug...

[Heart of Oak]

That's what's on the telly so it has to be real...