panorama

[bowdrill]

Did anyone see the program this evening about antibiotics how they are getting well bloody useless to us over use and infection s just getting stronger

bd

[bigpaul]

yep, saw it last night.

[Skean Dhude]

They have been talking about it since the 80s. The way we use them is the reason why they are becoming ineffective. Despite the advice we keep on using them the same way and it leads to this.

[bigpaul]

dosent surprise me one bit, they've been giving out this stuff like candy for years, its also in intensively reared meat, its also in farmed fish like salmon.

[Geordie_Rob]

Yeah BP, I heard the problem was more to do with the fact that food animals (cows, chickens etc..) are being regularly given doses throughout their short lives as it's cheaper for a farmer to drug all the animals than lose 10% or so through disease. And because they're being used so routinely, the bugs they used to kill are evolving to not die anymore.

[Mortblanc]

Why would farmers continue to give their animals injections of expensive drugs that do not work?

Is this a requirement of your government?

It confounds the limits of cost efficiency.

I raised cattle for years and vaccinations were a big expense for the heard. I would not have wasted my money if I continued to lose animals to the disease I was vaccinating against.

[bigpaul]

the antibiotics are getting into the water as well.

[Skean Dhude]

MB,

The issue, which is happening worldwide, is that people are prescribed antibiotics. They use them and their bugs start dying. They feel better so stop using them before all the bugs are wiped out. Therefore the bugs that have the highest resistance are not killed and go on to breed more. Darwinism in action. So eventually you prescribe the drug and the bugs just shrug it off. You need higher doses and eventually the bugs adapt to that until they just won't work at all as they would cause us harm.

Plus, as GR says, we are giving them to animals all the time. Bugs have plenty of generations to develop a resistance. That's why we are always on the lookout for new antibiotics.

[bigpaul]

wife went to GP for a skin complaint(roseatia...not sure if that the right spelling but that's how its pronounced), GP wanted to give her antibiotics, wife refused and was given a cream instead, which was what she wanted. GP's are all to keen to dole out antibiotics at the drop of a hat, for any small reason, that's where the trouble lies.

[Megatron]

I have to disagree with that comment BP. I think it's more to do with patients going to their GP's and asking for them and I know this happens a lot.

What I get from the program is like the pollution issue. No nation wants to stop using them as there of the opinion that if other nations use them so much then so should they. No one wants to be the first to halt the wide spread use of antibiotics. This issue is going to bite us on the ass in a big way.