When the chickens come home to roost (4/12/12) Nobody Here But
Us Chickens Solely within hospitals, antibiotic-resistant
infections hit 2 million Americans a year, according to an
article today by Gardiner Harris in the New York Times. They
kill about a hundred thousand. One of the more famous
infections, MRSA, or methicillin-resistant staphylococcus
aureus, kills perhaps 20,000 every year. Where do all these
antibiotic-resistant bugs come from here? Much of the blame is
apportioned to overuse of antibiotics by harried American
doctors. They’re just trying to cope in their six minute patient
sessions with sick, tetchy ill people suffering self-limited
viral infections. Click the computer monitor and the deed’s
done. No more angry calls. However, about four-fifths of
antibiotics given in this country appear in animal feed. Not
only is antibiotic resistance growing throughout the land, but
developing new antibiotics to stop the resistant bugs is not
keeping up. Many drugs used today by infectious disease expert