Overuse of antibiotics is starting to take its toll.
A deadly drug-resistant bacteria is spreading to elderly patients in nursing and long-term care facilities in Los Angeles County, according to CBS Local Los Angeles. Today 350 cases have been counted, most found in the elderly population. It’s called the CRKP bacteria and currently, it has no cure…
Six percent of these superbug cases in LA county were found in hospitals. We’ve heard about antibiotic resistant superbugs before, loose on British Farms. Scientists are noticing more and more strains of drug resistant bacteria. One superbug, ESBL E.coli, was first found at a British farm in 2008 and has now made its way to 37 percent of the country’s dairy farms. But superbugs in U.S. hospitals is even more cause for concern.
The Federal Register outlined the connection between overuse of antibiotics in the U.S. and newly formed drug resistant superbugs:
Misuse and overuse of antimicrobial drugs creates selective evolutionary pressure that enables antimicrobial resistant bacteria to increase in numbers more rapidly than antimicrobial susceptible bacteria and thus increases the opportunity for individuals to become infected by resistant bacteria. Because antimicrobial drug use contributes to the emergence of drug resistant organisms, these important drugs must be used judiciously in both animal and human medicine to slow the development of resistance. Using these drugs judiciously means that unnecessary or inappropriate use should be avoided.
While we see the link, we don’t seem to be doing too much about it considering that an FDA report said that in 2009 29 million pounds of antibiotics were given to our nation’s livestock.