Antibiotic Resistance

[Deepwater6]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-21702647

 

This is scary stuff, if what the article states about very few new drugs in the pipeline its a little unsettling. I would think if that is the case companies would see an opportunity for real profit working on new drugs. What is more concerning is the amount of time new drugs need to come to market. This new drug testing is needed, but with nothing on deck and with the time the testing takes its going to be a long time before we see new ones,

 

I have read many reports of doctors over prescribing antibiotics. This is the other side of this problem. The article suggests that inflating the prices for antibiotics will slow the pace. My view on that is exorbitant prices will only serve to keep the poor from getting them. Working with doctors to prescribe smarter would seem the way to go, but we may already be beyond that point.

[Lancewen]

http://www.bbc.co.uk...health-21702647

 

This is scary stuff, if what the article states about very few new drugs in the pipeline its a little unsettling. I would think if that is the case companies would see an opportunity for real profit working on new drugs. What is more concerning is the amount of time new drugs need to come to market. This new drug testing is needed, but with nothing on deck and with the time the testing takes its going to be a long time before we see new ones,

 

I have read many reports of doctors over prescribing antibiotics. This is the other side of this problem. The article suggests that inflating the prices for antibiotics will slow the pace. My view on that is exorbitant prices will only serve to keep the poor from getting them. Working with doctors to prescribe smarter would seem the way to go, but we may already be beyond that point.

 

One of the biggest contributors to this problem is over use on our live stock, and it seems like action is being taken. But like you I have a lot of concern about it being enough fast enough. I think the world is ripe for a very rude awakening.

 

Bill Seeks To Phase Out Over-Use Of Antibiotics In Farm Animals

http://consumerist.com/2013/03/14/bill-seeks-to-phase-out-over-use-of-antibiotics-in-farm-animals/

[sunshaker]

I recently watched a program about these bacteria ndm1 that are immune to antibiotics, I know little about bacteria but got me thinking and looking into bacteria, after looking at bacteria to me the weak point seems to be the flagel-lum which is used for propulsion, which is powered by proton motive force, Chemiosmosis is the movement of ions across a selectively "permeable membrane" that allows selective passage of nutrients, I wonder if concentrating on attacking the flagellum and its nutrient supply is the way to go with these resistant bacteria?

 

I then thought about fighting fire with fire, There must be a bacteria that eat these immune bacteria, I was surprised there is not much information on this but found viruses eating bacteria called bacteriophages which seem to be the way forward. http://uk.yhs4.search.yahoo.com/r/_ylt=A0LEVj4_ivtSg3EAgX93Bwx.;_ylu=X3oDMTByMG04Z2o2BHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDMQRjb2xvA2JmMQR2dGlkAw--/SIG=12716fkmd/EXP=1392245439/**http%3a//www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/267573.php

[Lancewen]

I recently watched a program about these bacteria ndm1 that are immune to antibiotics, I know little about bacteria but got me thinking and looking into bacteria, after looking at bacteria to me the weak point seems to be the flagel-lum which is used for propulsion, which is powered by proton motive force, Chemiosmosis is the movement of ions across a selectively "permeable membrane" that allows selective passage of nutrients, I wonder if concentrating on attacking the flagellum and its nutrient supply is the way to go with these resistant bacteria?

 

I then thought about fighting fire with fire, There must be a bacteria that eat these immune bacteria, I was surprised there is not much information on this but found viruses eating bacteria called bacteriophages which seem to be the way forward. http://uk.yhs4.searc...cles/267573.php

 

Phage therapy has actually been around for quite some time, but it went out of favor in the West when antibiotics came to the front of the line in fighting bacterial infections. Russia is way ahead of us in phage therapy and research. I found a couple of other links you might like.

 

Phage Therapy – Everything Old is New Again

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2095089/

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phage_therapy

[sunshaker]

Phage therapy has actually been around for quite some time, but it went out of favor in the West when antibiotics came to the front of the line in fighting bacterial infections. Russia is way ahead of us in phage therapy and research. I found a couple of other links you might like.

 

Phage Therapy – Everything Old is New Again

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2095089/

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phage_therapy

Interesting links

It seems phages are the way to go as long as drug companies have confidence they can make their huge profits,

There must be a wealth of information on phages in Russia, This is where the internet will play a role collecting work that as been done on phages,

From what i have read phages seem to have a virtual lack of side effects, and can migrate to organs that are usually not accessible to drugs,

I noticed that bacteria can develop resistance to phages, But the resistance might be easier to overcome than resistance to antibiotics, This makes me wonder whether bacteria that was resistant to antibiotics then develops a resistance to phages may once again become treatable by antibiotics because of their mutation?

 

I was surprised that phages worldwide is in excess of 10 to the power of 31, when stars in the universe are roughly 10 to the power of 23, Surly with so many phages to choose from there should be a cure for any bacterial infection.

 

This seems a good science for anyone to get into starting out on their careers.

[Lancewen]

While phage therapy does provide an alternative to antibiotics in the resistant strains of bacteria, my first preference will always be vaccine. I'd rather not ever get sick in the first place whenever possible.

[Jane515]

The way we overuse antibiotics in livestock, especially livestock that is used for human consumption, is literally sickening. It is beyond me how we can honestly believe that it is safe to eat something that has eaten so many antibiotics. 

[sman]

It is beyond me how we can honestly believe that it is safe to eat something that has eaten so many antibiotics.

Whether it is safe to eat the meat of an animal that has been treated with antibiotics seems like a question that science can handle. Our intuition about it aside, how should we approach this?

[Abe40]

On the issue of antibiotic resistance, the focus here seems to be on eating animals treated with antibiotics. How about us humans who abuse antibiotics? Some people use prescribed across-the-counter drugs indiscriminately: http://www.bbc.com/news/health-20354536. This is one cause of breeding of drug resistant bacteria. We already have multi-drug-resistant (MDR) and are faced with total-drug-resistant Tuberculosis.