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

(www.npr.org)
101 points pseudolus | 2 comments | 16 Oct 25 02:06 UTC | HN request time: 0.404s | source
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burnt-resistor ◴[16 Oct 25 05:19 UTC] No.45601681[source]▶
The war is being lost for 3 main reasons:

- Overuse in meat agriculture evolving new DRB as a side-effect of profiteering from animal cruelty by force-feeding animals soy and corn.

- Overuse for emotional customer satisfaction reasons rather than evidence-based scientific treatment of viruses with totally-inappropriate antibiotics. This isn't a problem limited to the Global South that this article wags its finger at with imperial arrogance. This happens all the time with American primary care doctors dispensing antibiotics without proof of bacterial infection.

- Lack of R&D into new drug classes.

replies(1): >>45601775 #
1. WalterBright ◴[16 Oct 25 05:35 UTC] No.45601775[source]▶
I once went to the doc with symptoms of strep. He prescribed antibiotics. I asked, why didn't you do a strep test first, as I didn't want to take the antibiotics if it wasn't strep? He looked annoyed and did the strep test. The results came back in a few minutes that I had strep.
replies(1): >>45603178 #
2. pjc50 ◴[16 Oct 25 09:20 UTC] No.45603178[source]▶
I wonder whether the test cost more than the antibiotics. I'm impressed at the speed, though.