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Human
Resistance to
Antibiotics Worries WHO
Excerpt By Claire Soares, Reuters
Health
WASHINGTON
(Reuters) - Humans are building up dangerous levels of resistance
to modern antibiotics that could leave them vulnerable to killer
diseases, the UN World Health Organization said on Tuesday.
Farmers who
use antibiotics to fatten up livestock and poultry are aggravating
the problem because microbes on animals build up defenses against
the drugs, then jump across the food chain and attack human immune
systems, WHO said.
The world
health body said tuberculosis strains in several countries had
become resistant to two of the most effective drugs and some antimalarial
medicines had become practically useless as parasites adapted
their defenses.
``Antibiotics
were one of the most significant discoveries of the 20th century,''
WHO Director Gro Harlem Brundtland said in a statement.
``Unless we
act to protect these medical miracles, we could be heading for
a post-antibiotic age in which many medical and surgical advances
could be undermined by the risk of incurable infection.''
The WHO said
industry data showed pharmaceutical companies had spent more than
$17 billion over the past five years on developing medicines to
treat infectious diseases.
``Unless drug
resistance is tackled quickly, much of that investment could be
lost,'' the organization said.
WHO urged
patients, doctors, hospitals, farmers and legislators to take
action to contain the threat.
The body wants
farmers to stop using antibiotics simply to make their animals
grow, and recommends that when animals are ill, their owners should
have a prescription for any necessary drugs.
Human patients
should avoid putting pressure on doctors to give them antibiotics,
the report said. Doctors should prescribe drugs specifically to
match a person's illness, rather than automatically giving them
the newest or best-known medication. And hospitals should develop
more stringent monitoring systems, it added.
``This strategy
is designed to promote the wiser use of drugs so that resistance
is minimized and effective treatments can continue to be used
for generations to come,'' David Heymann, director for communicable
diseases, said.
Reference
Source 89
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