Since the discovery of penicillin, the germ killing antibiotics have saved million and millions of lives by putting an end to many contagious diseases like tuberculosis, pneumonia and other bacterial infections. But a phenomenon known as antibiotic resistance is slowly sapping the curative power of the drugs.
Many experts says that this problem occurs because of the improper usage of these drugs by doctors, hospitals and patients, as well as by farmers and others in the agricultural sector. This can certainly cause certain skin infections, sexually transmitted diseases, urinary tract infections etc.
Opinions From experts
Antibiotic resistance poses urgent threat all around the world. Lauri Hicks, director of the office of antibiotic stewardship at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta says that, “We’re in a tough situation because of the increasing likelihood that each time you or I develop an infection that is resistant, we will have very limited [treatment] options or no options at all,” “Not only are we more likely to end up in the hospital, we’re more likely to have a lengthy illness. Even if we survive the illness, then we’re more likely to have long-term consequences.”
In a question panel discussion held in Boston on Friday, Hicks and three other experts on antibiotic resistance explored these and other questions, what can be done to curb the problem? What can doctors, hospitals and patients do? How about government officials and the agricultural sector? And what’s the appropriate role for pharmaceutical manufacturers working to develop new germ-killing drugs?
The panel included Marc Lipsitch, a professor of epidemiology and the director of the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics at the Chan School in Boston; Helen Boucher, a professor of medicine at the Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston and the director of the Tufts Center for Integrated Management of Antimicrobial Resistance; and Kevin Outterson, a professor of law at Boston University and executive director of Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator.
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