Antibiotic Use Helping H5N1 Spread

When will we learn. We've talked about antibiotic/antiviral overuse and the dangers of that practice for some time. Those that need a refresher should check out my Knol on the Hygiene Hypothesis.

The overuse of antibiotic seems to lead to increased disease and resistance to certain medications. More recently, we've seen increases in MRSA/ORSA/VRSA as well as drug resistant TB...we've also seen these conditions make the trip from being a hospital acquired disease to a community acquired disease. Many believe (and I think the science backs this up) these increases are due to over use of prescription medications like antibiotics.

We've talked about the impact of medication use and resistance on both the blog and podcast. As we see increased resistance to antiviral medications like Tamiflu, what will we turn to? In Russia and Asia, cheaper antibiotics are loosing their battle with influenza and may be speeding the resistance of hundreds of strains of influenza. In some cases, farmers are actually feeding the medications to poultry stock in effort to build animal resistance.

The continued over use of antibiotics and antivirals will put us on the fast-track to failure in a pandemic situation. Also, our preparedness efforts have moved too far to depending on antiviral medications while not placing nearly enough emphasis on non-pharm interventions. This unbalanced focus has us forgetting that the simple fact that appropriate social distancing, hand washing, respiratory etiquette, and the use of a protective mask may be equally effective (if not more so) than pharmaceuticals.

More on this on the next podcast.

Check out these from Medical News Today:
Antiviral Drugs Could Aid Deadly Flu
Avian Flu More Resistant to Antivirals