Quote:
Originally Posted by Mastodon
This is one of the many things that genuinely scare me, in what is happening to the environment. A close relative of mine works at the water protection agency; antibiotics are not that much of a problem in Swedish waters so far, but she has a lot of international contacts and she's told me that in some countries, antibiotics are dumped in the water, ending up in the ground water, with obvious consequences. Some people are even advised to flush unused medication down the toilet.  (Granted, that way it has to pass through filters and chemical purification, so its better than throwing it into the river, but everything is not caught by the filters.) And only recently I read about a doctor who had prescribed antibiotics against a virus infection, without even meeting the patient... he was warned, of course, but the number of doctors who do that is probably frighteningly high. (Some people simply should not be doctors.) And finally, in some countries they give antibiotics to animals as a routine proceedure. All these things mean that very soon, bacterial infections may no longer be treatable with antibiotics, and even more people will die from fairly uncomplicated infections. Not to mention all the species of animals that will suffer or become extinct. |
Yep. There are a lot of things that contribute to bacteria getting resistant.
I think it's crazy that in a lot of countries they give antibiotics to livestock simply because it promotes growth (yet another thing that's done to earn more money). In Sweden that was forbidden in 1986 and in the EU it was forbidden in 2006, if I'm not mistaken. I think it's still legal in the US (and in a lot of other countries).
In a lot of countries (probably in most countries) you don't need a prescription to buy antibiotics, which definitely contributes to the problem since people tend to buy it even if it's not absolutely necessary. I've also understood that it isn't really common knowledge that viral infections can't be treated by antibiotics. I honestly thought most people knew that and for a doctor (the one you mentioned) to not know about it is quite absurd (if not preposterous).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mastodon
Sorry, I know that you know all this, neutrino, but I had to rant.
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No need to apologize! I'm glad to see someone else is reacting.
I hope I'm not offending anyone by posting all of this. I really don't mean to accuse anyone of anything. This is just something I'm both quite interested in and quite upset by. Just want to spread some awareness I guess. I hope that's ok.