Recently there has been more and more scary health news about MRSA or methicillin resistanst Staphylococcus Aureus infections. Basically, these are multi drug resistant strains of a very common bacteria. Initially found in hospital and nursing home settings where there is a lot of antibiotic use for various reasons, now found in many varying locations such as schools and playgrounds. The CDC is alarmed at the rate of spread of this once innocuous bacteria, killing more people in the US in 2005 than HIV/AIDS. How did this come about? Could we have predicted this? Is there more to come?
MRSA came about because the bacteria was subjected to dose after dose of antibiotics mutated to preserve its species. Say that you take antibiotics for an chronic sinus infection and you didn't really finish the dose because you got better in 3 days and decided that taking a 10 day dose of antibiotics was too much of a hassle to complete. So you are fine for a time, and say 90% of the bacteria was killed off during the first few days and there was only 10% of the bacteria left. So now the 10% left which was not susceptible to the antibiotic that you took (the strongest 10%) starts to multiply and divide. There is little competition for food and space given that the other 90% were killed off and there is plenty of both to go around. About a month later you get another sinus infection because say it takes that long for that 10% to overgrow again. Now these offspring of the original 10% stronger bugs are less susceptible to that antibiotic that you had taken and this time the same prescription did not work as well as before, maybe killing off 50% of the weaker of the 'stronger' bugs. Say this continues for a number of months and years between you and others who had multiple doses of various antibiotics.
Now, suddenly a new strain that is very aggressive, and resistant to multiple common antibiotics exists. This new bug is then transferred to the neighborhood and some child or less resistant individual picks it up and given the aggressive nature of the bug and the status of some weaker individual's immune system we see disaster happening. Many doctors acknowledge that antibiotics are frequently overused in skin conditions, dental procedures and other less threatening conditions.
What do we do as a community to prevent more of this happening in the future or at least slow down this progression? This is where individual choices and knowledge can help maintain the health of future generations. Tomorrow, the prevention discussion and helping your immune system stay as healthy as possible to avoid the need for antibiotics in most cases.
I understand this article a little too well. I took my 8 yr. old daughter to the dr for a case of hives that are probably food related and he prescribed a 10 day course of prednisone. I am still trying to figure out another remedy, of course. I don't want to put those drugs in her for this! Some doctors are too quick to give drugs for anything!
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