http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-37848305
Above is the link to the BBC article related to this I personally do think that we could be facing a very serious problem with our excessive use of proscribed antibiotics. It's essentially accelerating the process of natural selection in the dangerous bacteria. All the bacteria will begin to be killed off by a new drug until one mutates a gene which has a resistance to the drug. While others die off, this bacterium will continue to multiply, and spreading until the only types of that bacteria left are the ones with the gene immunising them against the antibiotics. Meanwhile we are not thinking of the bigger picture. This will help us out in the short term but in the long run we are only damaging ourselves more. Eventually we will find that only those resistant to antibiotics remain. So thats why in my opinion I would say we should stop investing the little time we have left in antibiotics made of other bacteria and fungi but to look to other solutions instead such as peptides. Here is a few paragraphs form the online journal Nature that explain the reasoning behind using peptides. "Plants, animals and fungi have vastly different immune systems, but all make peptides — small proteins — that destroy bacteria. Peptides from creatures such as amphibians and reptiles, which are unusually resistant to infection, could yield new therapeutics. Peptides with antibacterial activity have been isolated from frogs, alligators and cobras, among others, and some seem to be effective in epithelial cell cultures and at healing wounds in mice. These peptides can be modified to increase their potency, and several are in clinical trials. One, called pexiganan, based on a peptide from frog skin, is now in phase III clinical trials to treat diabetic foot ulcers. But synthesizing such molecules can be expensive, a hurdle that scientists must overcome to bring new peptide drugs to market." I understand the expense of this trial but I think we would all agree it is money well spent in order to prevent a potential "super" plague made up of antibiotic immune bacteria. I also think the system put in place to help remind the doctors to reduce proscription will very much help and should be implemented in every clinic across the globe to help prevent one of the greatest possible pandemics we could face as a species.
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