“Antibiotic resistant infections are killing more people each year than HIV/AIDS”
- from the front page of the 10/17 KC Star; and
“Survey questions medical educators’ industry ties”
- from page A-8 of the same paper.
As I read the front page article in the Star, I was reminded that this problem has been escalating for decades. We first heard about it as a headline over twenty years ago. Obviously, little or nothing has been done to reduce the cause of this embarrassing result of over prescribing antibiotics.
“On any given day, about 50 KU patients are in isolation rooms with serious infections … that have grown resistant to antibiotics.” Wow! “In 2005, over 94,000 people developed life-threatening antibiotic resistant infections, and nearly 19,000 died.” “These infections are killing more US citizens than HIV/AIDS.” Fortunately, almost all of these patients picked up the infections while in a care facility of some sort, so there is some recourse… avoid care facilities like hospitals, etc., whenever possible.
Why haven’t we heard more about this epidemic? I use the word epidemic because the HIV/AIDS problem is a definite epidemic and this ‘Super Bug’ problem is killing more people than HIV/AIDS, and the answer is simple. We caused it. This is an epidemic caused by the cavalier use of antibiotics by the disease care delivery system, often referred to by the misnomer, health care system. Perhaps we should really call it what it is, as it has little or nothing to do with health. Of course the next question is, how could we keep causing a decades long epidemic without coming to some reasonable resolution? The answer to that question was found on page A-8 of the KC Star on that same day.
Before I get to that, I must first mention some good news. Many pediatric cold remedies have recently been taken off the market, and what is left bears warnings. Pediatricians are now being told to educate their patients’ parents that antibiotics do little or nothing for the common cold, over-the-counter medications (drugs) can do as much harm as good, and a wise approach is to see that the patient gets sufficient rest, chicken soup (adequate dietary support), and old fashion methods of symptom relief. Fever is explained as a normal and desirable body defense and should not be considered a cause for concern unless it becomes excessive. For most children under five, excessive would be 105 degrees or higher for a prolonged period. For adults, that number would be 103 degrees. Interestingly enough, this is what I have been teaching my patients for the last forty years. It is what doctors told their patients before antibiotics became so popular.
So, now the answer to the question of how something like an epidemic bigger than AIDS/HIV can flourish for decades without getting adequate attention. “Nearly 2/3 of academic leaders surveyed at US medical schools and teaching hospitals have financial ties to industry, illustrating how pervasive these relationships have become, researchers say.” “The study shows that drug and medical device companies are involved in every aspect of medical care.” Doctors aren’t bad guys, but medicine is a business, and in business you don’t bite the hand that feeds you. In medicine, we believe our revered teachers even if they are ‘on the take.’
I was misled by nutritional pharmaceutical-detail people when I first went into practice, and it took me some time to realize that I was in the same dilemma as the physicians referred to in the Star article. That’s why there are no detail people allowed in my office, and that’s been a rule since the late 1970s. This is a problem that must be dealt with at the individual level. It means giving up a lot of perks, but it makes for a more honest medicine.