Deadlier than cancer: Antibiotic-resistant superbugs could be one of the world’s top killers by 2050

[applegrove]

Deadlier than cancer: Antibiotic-resistant superbugs could be one of the world’s top killers by 2050

by Lindsay Abrams at Salon

http://www.salon.com/2014/12/11/deadlier_than_cancer_antibiotic_resistant_superbugs_could_be_one_of_the_worlds_top_killers_by_2050/

"SNIP.......................


An economist crunched the numbers on the rise of antibiotic-resistant “superbugs,” and what he found foresees crisis in the very near future. If left unchecked, he warns, the cost, in loss of both global wealth and lives, would be truly astronomical.


Antibiotic-resistant infections are already killing hundreds of thousands of people a year; in the very near future, the report finds that number can skyrocket to more than 10 million — surpassing even the current death toll of cancer:

...........

The biggest killers, the report finds, will be drug-resistant E. coli, malaria and tuberculosis. The economic toll, meanwhile, can surpass $100 trillion by 2050, reducing world GDP by anywhere from 2 to 3.5 percent. And the team emphasizes that this is likely an underestimate — it fails, for example, to take into account the cost of healthcare should antibiotics no longer be effective, and doctors were no longer able to perform Caesarean sections, chemotherapy or transplants.

The problem is a global one, economist Jim O’Neill, who lead the analysis, told the BBC, with some countries facing greater catastrophes than others. At the most severe end, in Nigeria, drug-resistant infections could be responsible for more than one in four deaths. In India, where antibiotic resistant infections are already taking a devastating toll on newborns, an additional two million lives could be lost every year. None will be left off the hook, however. North America and Europe, which together already see about 50,000 such deaths each year, could soon see that toll soar about 700,000.




......................SNIP"

[NYC_SKP]

1. C-Diff is on of the problems. I'm participating in a study to test a potential new drug.

To fight it.

No pay, just track any incident of runny poop for three years, have blood drawn, etc.

Stanford asked me to do it and I couldn't refuse, they saved my life this year.

[applegrove]

2. Good for you. And glad you are okay. We missed you when you were gone.

[NYC_SKP]

3. Aww, thanks!s

I missed the community, too!

[tridim]

4. How do "Antibiotic-resistant superbugs" affect people who don't take antibiotics?

Just wondering since it has been 30 years since I last took an antibiotic.

Are immune-resistant superbugs the same as antibiotic-resistant superbugs?

[applegrove]

5. If your immune system can fight them off then they are not much of a bug are they?

Seriously... this is scary. And good for you for not abusing anti-biotics. If only the rest of the world did not abuse them.

[Chemisse]

6. Sadly, it won't make a difference if individuals have been frugal with the antibiotics.

The bacteria that are resistant are 'out there,' particularly in hospitals.

[ellenrr]

7. BBC: Honey and Antibiotic resistant infections

Honey is now regularly being shown to kill superbugs in the laboratory and save patient's limbs on hospital wards, but why is its medicinal use still so limited in the UK?

Researchers say honey has been successful in treating severe wounds including ulcers, pressure sores, trauma injuries and infected surgical wounds - reducing the reliance on antibiotics and providing an alternative to antiseptics which can harm healing tissue.

Professor Rose Cooper, from the Centre for Biomedical Sciences at Cardiff Metropolitan University, has been at the forefront of its research since the late 1990s.

Using electron microscopy, which can reveal the structure of bacteria, she has shown even low concentrations of the honey stops bacteria including MRSA growing, meaning cells cannot divide and therefore are unable to form infections.

Surgihoney killed all of the bugs including multiple drug-resistant ones like MRSA, Ecoli and pseudomonas aeruginos and its effects were comparable to commonly-used antiseptics, which can have adverse side effects.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/28399182