Rampant Misuse of Antibiotics Poses Growing Global Threat, Experts Warn

Updated on December 8, 2013

Some days, Dr. Amesh Adalja finds himself in the 1930s.

That happens when a patient is infected with bacteria immune to antibiotics, the miracle drugs that transformed medical care more than 70 years ago.

“This infection is eventually going to consume you, and there isn’t anything left on the shelf to try,” Adalja, an associate at UPMC’s Center for Biosecurity, tells the person.

Overuse and misuse of antibiotics are pushing the world toward what Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Tom Frieden calls “a post-antibiotic era.” At least 2 million people in the United States contract antibiotic-resistant infections each year, 23,000 of whom die, the CDC estimates.

Read more at the Tribune-Review.

 

+ posts

Throughout the year, our writers feature fresh, in-depth, and relevant information for our audience of 40,000+ healthcare leaders and professionals. As a healthcare business publication, we cover and cherish our relationship with the entire health care industry including administrators, nurses, physicians, physical therapists, pharmacists, and more. We cover a broad spectrum from hospitals to medical offices to outpatient services to eye surgery centers to university settings. We focus on rehabilitation, nursing homes, home care, hospice as well as men’s health, women’s heath, and pediatrics.