Antibiotics were the wonder drugs of the 20th century.
But as we enter the 21st they seem to be losing their miraculous nature.
As a clinician I have seen both sides of this fence.
I have seen people who unquestionably benefited from antibiotic use and others who unquestionably died from it.
I have seen more and more of this as Big Pharma gets away from naturally occurring substances and "pioneers" new synthetic materials in the lab which are both expensive and patentable.
The worst problem is of course resistance.
We now have an army of bugs that do not respond to anything but the latest synthetic nightmare from Big Pharma.
How convenient and who’s to blame?
If you want to play the blame game lay it squarely on the shoulders of the following:
Big Pharma for their unending and unscrupulous ad campaigns where every snivel and sneeze is a sinus infection requiring 2 weeks of costly drugs.
That gives bacteria plenty of time to begin the resistance process.
By the way in case you are wondering viruses are much worse. They adapt to drug pressures faster and with more virulence.
Also as of this writing the so called non virulent strain of bird flu has hit 3 more states in the U.S. of A.
Look to the continuing overuse of anti-virals to put us in dire straights this winter, since the bird flu is now a big concern.
In the past docs held back on the anti-viral drugs because of their side effects, cost and lack of any real progress.
