Canada

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Overuse of antibiotics creates looming problem

By: Helen Branswell

Posted: 02/17/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

TORONTO -- Experts worried about the growing problem of antibiotic resistance are hoping a concept made familiar by the fight against climate change will help them reduce inappropriate use of the critical drugs.

They think urging people to consider their "resistance footprint" may help patients and prescribing doctors get their heads around the notion that every time anyone uses antibiotics unnecessarily or inappropriately, it helps drive the development of resistant bacteria.

Those resistant bugs aren't just a danger to the individual taking the antibiotic. They are a threat to family members, friends and strangers, now and into future generations.

"If you take a heart pill, if you take a blood pressure pill, if you take a diabetes pill, that pill affects you and only you," explained Dr. Andrew Simor, head of microbiology at Toronto's Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.

"(But) you take an antibiotic and there's the potential for it to affect an entire community or a larger population -- not just you taking the pill."

Simor and several other infectious diseases specialists warn about the dangers of antibiotic resistance in a series of articles published Tuesday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

The notion of the resistance footprint was advanced in an analysis by Dr. David Patrick, director of communicable disease epidemiology at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control, and Dr. James Hutchinson, of Memorial University in St. John's, N.L.

In an interview, Patrick said he doesn't think people contemplate the broader consequences when they ask for antibiotics to treat their sinusitis or a child's ear infection.

"I don't think people think that way," he said from Vancouver.

"But I think people have digested the carbon footprint idea -- that for my benefit of running the chainsaw so I can cut more trees down for my industry or for my benefit of transporting food, there's a price to be paid. Which may not be paid exactly by me. It may be paid by people in the Maldives."

"There is a direct corollary with the overuse of antibiotics."

It's known that people seek -- and doctors prescribe -- antibiotics to treat viral infections against which the drugs have no power.

"The majority of outpatient (antibiotic) prescribing is for the acute respiratory conditions pharyngitis, sinusitis and acute bronchitis, as well as for otitis media (inner ear infections)," Patrick and Hutchinson wrote. "These syndromes are almost entirely caused by viruses."

So the drugs don't cure the ailment. But they do expose the bacteria living in the person's gastric tract or on the skin to what is called selective pressure.

The bugs susceptible to the antibiotic die off, leaving those that are resistant to flourish and potentially spread. It's the microbial version of survival of the fittest.

The rise of antibiotic resistance makes it increasingly difficult to treat infections. And it puts many of the advances of modern medicine in jeopardy.

"There's a risk with surgery, there's a risk with a whole host of scenarios. Cancer patients on treatment who become immunosuppressed are at risk of very serious infections," said Simor.

-- The Canadian Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 17, 2009 A13

You can comment on most stories on winnipegfreepress.com. You can also agree or disagree with other comments. All you need to do is register and/or login and you can join the conversation and give your feedback.

The Winnipeg Free Press does not necessarily endorse any of the views posted. By submitting your comment, you agree to our Terms and Conditions. These terms were revised effective April 16, 2010; View the changes. New to commenting? Check out our Frequently Asked Questions.

WFP Hockey

Download our new hockey app for the iPhone for Winnipeg Jets updates
Editor's Bulletin

Sign up for daily bulletins from editor Margo Goodhand
Winnipeg Jets

All things NHL on our Jets landing page
Twitter

Follow our reporters and our news feeds on Twitter
News Cafe

Check out the menu, read our blog posts or get info on coming events
Facebook Fanpage

Follow our Facebook Fanpage for story links, contests and special events