Antibiotics Expert

Ayear and a half ago, researchers found that a deadly form of staph infection was prevalent on Canadian pig farms. This year, the superbug was found in both swine and workers at U.S. farms.

The rise of bacteria such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, which kills more people in this country each year than AIDS, is believed to be a consequence of the overuse of antibiotics in humans and animals. Low doses of the medications have become ubiquitous in the livestock industry, mixed into feed to enhance growth and prevent the diseases that sweep through crowded pens.

A bill circulating in Washington would ban the use of antibiotics for livestock unless the animals are ill.

Proponents of the ban say over-medicating healthy animals could create super-germs resistant to medicine. Farmers and people who work with livestock say the ban could hurt their business and that pre-medicating animals with antibiotics doesn’t pose a risk to humans.

Some say, while antibiotics can be a huge help, they can also be overused.

“It’s just an example of things being done in excess that I think really doesn’t need to be done,” says Karen Kershaw of Kershaw Stables in Milton.

This came days after the publication of the Chief Medical Officer’s report on the problem of antimicrobial resistance being transferred from farm animals to humans.

Sir Liam Donaldson said: “Resistant bacteria developing in animals could pose a threat to people. Antibiotics must be used in moderation in agricultural settings and only when necessary for animal welfare.”

In the letter from Soil Association director Patrick Holden said: “We have chosen to raise this issue with Gordon Brown because we feel that only he is in a position to get DEFRA and the Department of Health working together in an effective and meaningful way to extend the Government’s important campaign to discourage unnecessary antibiotic use by doctors, vets and farmers.”

Quarterly mass administrations of prophylactic antibiotics to children significantly decreased the incidence of trachoma in all community residents in an Ethiopian trial, investigators here reported.

The mass distribution reduced the incidence of trachoma from 48.4% to 3.6% in treated individuals, Thomas M. Lietman, M.D., of the University of California San Francisco, and colleagues said in the March 28 issue of The Lancet.

In addition, untreated children and adults in these same communities had significantly lower rates of the ocular infection than residents of communities that did not receive antibiotic prophylaxis.

Yeast infections which are caused by an overgrowth of fungal organisms normally found in the vaginal area are very widespread. There are several reasons leading to the occurrence of overgrowth of yeast. And one of these is a common side effect of antibiotic treatment.

Why does antibiotic treatment cause yeast infection?

Taking antibiotics can have several adverse effects including the development of yeast infections. When you take an antibiotic for a bacterial infection, the drug may not only kill the target disease-causing bacteria but also the useful normal flora in your vagina. The decreased number of this normally thriving bacterial population can lead to an increase in the yeast population. Thus, yeast infection occurs.