We're losing the war against drug-resistant infections faster than we thought

Another source of antibiotic resistance (which the article forgets to mention) is their routine use in livestock, preventatively and to accelerate growth. I would wager that is the far more significant contributor, since there's simply much more of it - compare the total number of cattle in places where such use is allowed (meaning cattle are exposed to antibiotics for most of their lives), versus the number of people being treated with antibiotics (i.e. a very limited population, for a very limited period):

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12029767/

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6017557/

It’s not a coincidence that many of the antibiotic resistant bacteria tend to pop up in areas where the livestock industry is located.

Something else unmentioned is that 70-80% of hospital acquired infections are related to medical devices that are susceptible to the formation of biofilms where the bacteria create a protective layer that antibiotics can't penetrate.

For example antibiotic resistant urinary tract infections caused by the use of catheters. Effective antibiotics simply don't work when they can't reach the infection.

Oh, that's messed up. Aren't catheters supposed to be air-tight, sterile and single-use? Or do they reuse them?! >__>

It's used to keep cows alive that would otherwise die from being force-fed corn purely for economic reasons. It's the ranchers' choice to make more money at the expense of suffering of all of us and of the animals they torture. I've listened to former KAFO ranch hands bemoan that it's a truly shameful and disgusting practice that needs to be outlawed globally.

Nothing can be _completely_ sterile all the time. Urinary catheters also tend to move a bit when inserted, so they tend to slowly transport bacteria from the outside into the inside.

Industrial meat agriculture is killing us and the Earth ecosystem in manifold preventable ways if we'd just stop being so selfish and doing the same thing and expecting a different result:

- Antibiotic-resistant bacteria evolution

- Animal cruelty

- Pandemic virus evolution

- Climate change

- Air, water, and soil pollution

Sure. But the lubricant they use usually contains antibiotics. Go figure.

Interesting - do you have the source handy?

> if we'd just stop being so selfish

You couldn't be more wrong. The overwhelming majority of people are against animal cruelty and creating more antibiotic resistance through cattle farming, even if it means slightly-to-modestly more expensive meat. The reason it continues is a failure to inform (seen the insides of many factory farms on the news lately?), organize, and act to that end. It is not because of selfishness that it continues (except the selfishness of those profiting from it, but there will always be someone selfish, no matter how selfless the average person gets), but because the virtuous have not gathered enough power to stop it (at home and especially abroad [1]).

Self-flagellation will accomplish nothing.

[1] https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/antibiotic-use-livestock-...

> even if it means slightly-to-modestly more expensive meat.

This is a hard one to prove without trying. A lot of people would say that and then buy the cheaper version when the time comes.