We are now perilously close to the last of our antibiotics being effective against infections that pose a threat to life. We are warned that there is a real chance that within a few years we may have to abandon common medical procedures such as joint replacement, Caesarean births and many cancer treatments because they are simply too dangerous. The prospect of a skin scratch in the garden resulting in a lingering death is becoming a reality.
For a long time our hospitals have been haunted by what is called " Golden Staph ", an infection that is resistant to all but the few remaining antibiotics that have the power to bring it under control. These are carefully rationed, but now a new version of this " Staph " is on the move and gaining immunity over the last treatments offered.
What is killing off our antibiotic defence is simply overuse ! When antibiotics were first developed they were considered a " wonder drug " and patients thought they could cure anything - and everything. There was pressure on doctors to prescribe them, and many did for the range of common viruses which do not respond to antibiotics.
Even worse, many people did not complete the course and stopped taking them as soon as they felt a little better. This allowed the surviving bugs a chance to gain immunity to the drug and slowly but surely that immunity is killing off the effect that antibiotics have as a means of disease control.
The National Centre for Antimicrobial Stewardship has sounded a warning that there is a defect in our system of prescription control. Many prescriptions for antibiotics have a twelve months expiry period and it is common for patients to resume use of this drug when symptoms of their ailment reappear. Sometimes they will self diagnose another illness as having a need for antibiotics and with that prescription still current they can obtain fresh supplies without the need to see a doctor.
The recommendation is for a limit on the use of repeat prescriptions for antibiotics. As well as a ban on repeat prescriptions, it is suggested that the initial prescription have an expiry of between two weeks and three months, depending on the particular reason it is issued. It is vitally important that the casual use of antibiotics be brought under control.
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners supports this idea of new date limits on prescriptions and it awaits the legislation needed to bring it into effect. Unfortunately, even that may not fully resolve the problem. Antibiotics are widely used in agriculture and it seems that the immunity genie is out of the bottle - and free of containment.
We are facing a risk as severe as our wonderful age of enlightened medicine going back to the " dark ages ". Without antibiotics, microbial resistance may become the worlds greatest cause of death - eliminating ten million people a year.
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