The truth about superbugs and antibiotics
By Julia Belluz - Friday, January 4, 2013 - 0 Comments
Staphyloccoccus aureus x 17,000 at 4 x 4 (Getty)
In a post about the most outrageous attacks on science in 2012, Science-ish asked you to pick the topic you’d like to see tackled first in the new year: you wanted the truth about antibiotics and superbugs.
It’s no wonder. The popular discourse about these rapidly multiplying, drug-resistant microbes is pretty freaky. An investigation by CBC’s Marketplace found deadly bacteria, like C. difficile, lurking in hotel rooms. Other stories have revealed that they are waiting to cuddle up with you in hospitals, and even peppering your chicken dinner.
Meanwhile, the British Medical Journal has reported that the dangers of superbugs may be over-hyped, turning poor germ-avoiding patients into hospital cleaners. But you, dear readers, know the cleansing light of evidence can wash away some of those fears. Here’s what the latest research tells us about antibiotics and superbugs:
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Drug-resistant gonorrhea is on the rise
By macleans.ca - Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 12:22 PM - 0 Comments
Experts warn STD could become untreatable in the future
Gonorrhea strains are becoming resistant to the antibiotic usually used to treat the sexually transmitted infection, according to the BBC, which reports that doctors in the UK are being told to stop using the normal treatment (the antibiotic cefixime), and to use two more powerful antibiotics instead: a pill and a needle. The Health Protection Agency is warning we’re headed to a point when the disease is incurable, unless new treatments are discovered. The bacterium that causes gonorrhea is very adaptive, and has gained resistance to more and more antibiotics.
