Today, April 7, has been designated World Health Day in honor of the establishment of the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1948. It is seen as an opportunity to draw attention to major health concerns world wide at this time each year. International, national and local events are sponsored by WHO related to a particular theme. This year, the theme is Antimicrobial Resistance and it's global spread.
What does this mean to you? Most of us live longer and healthier lives today in part because of antimicrobials, those drugs that, as a last resort, are used to kill off infections that are causing infectious diseases. Until their discovery in the 1940's, people died from these diseases on an alarmingly frequent basis. Today, most of us cannot imagine living in a world without antimicrobials such as antibiotics.
We are now on the edge of losing this precious arsenal. The use and mis-use of these medicines over the past 70 years in both medicine and animal husbandry has caused the rise of antimicrobial resistant microorganisms. Perhaps the most well known of the resistant strains is MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphyloccocus Aureus). These microorganisms have caused death, suffering, disability and high health care costs.
Global travel allows these organisms to travel within hours. Unchecked, we could potentially lose our ultimate line of defense against our tiniest enemies.
How did this happen? Antimicrobial resistance – also knownas drug resistance – happens when microorganisms like bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites change in ways that make the medications used to cure the infections they cause useless. When the microorganisms become resistant to most antimicrobials they are often referred to as “superbugs”. This is a major concern because a resistant infection may kill and can spread to others.
Antimicrobial resistance is often caused by the improper use of medicines, for example, when taking too low a dose or not finishing a prescribed course of treatment. Low-quality medicines, wrong prescriptions and poor infection control (not checking back with the doctor if you're still sick) also encourage the development and spread of drug resistance. Lack of government commitment to address
these issues, poor professional surveillance and a diminishing arsenal of tools to diagnose, treat and prevent microbial infections also contribute.
Drug companies hesitate to put large sums of money into researching new antimicrobial agents and no new class of drugs has been discovered in decades. So, what are we to do? 1) ALWAYS take ALL of the prescribed drug, as written; 2) follow up with your doctor to be sure your infection is gone, as directed; 3) do not encourage prophilactic (daily) use of antibiotics for frivilous reasons (e.g., farm animals); 4) stay informed, get involved, and remember... "no action today, no cure tomorrow" (WHO, 2011).
If you have any comments or questions, please feel free...
Always,
Dr. P.
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