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StaphAseptic™ News
Antibiotic overuse produces superbugs
January 11, 2010
Houma Today
By Dr. Randolph M. Howes
Headlines tell us of the increasing incidence of a superbug called a "methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus." These MRSA infections are becoming widespread in children and athletes. Experts have said, "Every time someone looks, the rates of MRSA are going up and that's certainly concerning because it's a bug that can cause dramatic (life-threatening) disease." It kills about 19,000 Americans annually, which is more deaths than from AIDS. It is believed to be due to inappropriate use of antibiotics. Assuming that reports are correct, the Norwegians have found a simple solution to this problem: Norwegians stopped taking so many drugs. Twenty five years ago, Norway had the same MRSA problem as other countries but they have now become the most infection-free country on the planet. They did it by severely cutting back on the use of antibiotics.
Their extraordinarily successful plan can be readily adopted by other countries and the World Health Organization admits that antibiotic resistance is one of the leading public health threats in the world. Investigators have found that overuse and misuse of medicines has led to mutations in once curable diseases like tuberculosis and malaria, making them harder and in some cases impossible to treat.
Norwegian doctors prescribe fewer antibiotics than any other country so patients do not develop resistant strains of bacteria.
This is a portion of the original article. To read complete article, visit houmatoday.com
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