M6.6- Use of Antibiotics

These four articles were pretty dense and hard for me to follow at times, but I really liked what they had to offer.

Antibiotics 101: I really appreciate how each week’s material reinforces how small doses of chemicals over time do much more damage than we think. We hear so much about antibiotic resistance, but I hadn’t thought much about it beyond taking antibiotics as prescribed, and not skipping doses or taking too many. I’m not surprised that we get sicker from antibiotic resistant infections, as it takes multiple rounds of increasingly stronger antibiotics to stop the infection, allowing it to progress further than it might otherwise. I also like how this article gave recommendations on how to find meat raised with antibiotics: 1- buy organic; 2- look for a label stating that the meet has been raised without them; 3- buy directly from the farmer.

Livestock and ‘Superbug’ Risk: Livestock associated MRSA has been linked with a regional density of livestock. As someone who is surrounded by large populations of cows, this made me think of the mad cow disease outbreak that happened during my childhood. As the density of a particular livestock doubles in a specific area, the odds of carrying livestock associated MRSA increases between 24 and 77%. It has also become resistant to common antibiotics, which is terrifying. I think I’m going to stop eating red meat in the near future, just because I don’t need the high iron content I once did as an athlete and I don’t want to expose myself to all of the illnesses associated with livestock.

Antimicrobial Wipes: I’ve been hearing this lately, but antibiotic soaps and wipes are no more likely than good old-fashioned soap to prevent GI or respiratory illnesses. I didn’t know that they may be killing the good, native bacteria, which makes sense that all the GI issues stemming from unhealthy digestive systems are becoming so prevalent.

Antimicrobial Hospital Furnishings: My mom is a pharmacy technician in a hospital, so this article made me think of her and how she can protect herself from even more chemicals. We try so hard to keep hospitals clean and reduce the likelihood of more germs multiplying, but the use of products containing these antimicrobials can also increase the risk of antibiotics resistance, thus defeating the purpose. Furthermore and even more startling, we get too comfortable with this security and it can reduce attention to cleaning and disinfection, increasing the costs of products and materials. I really agree with the recommendation to commit to transparency in toxicity and efficacy testing for all antimicrobials, because I still can’t believe these products aren’t regulated.