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Body can fight antibiotics for months, study shows

HELEN BRANSWELL

Canadian Press

Latest comment posted at 1:01 AM EDT 10/02/07

Extraordinary persistence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria startles researchers and triggers warnings against over-prescribing ...Read the full article

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  1. von foopendorf from Canada writes: time to break out the bacteriophages. research in the field was quite promising until shelved in favour of antibiotics.
  2. Digital Taco from Canada writes: The title of the article doesn't seem to make sense to me.

    Anyhow, we are living in a 1st world country. That means excess money, food, obesity, heart attacks, lots of weapons, deaths in foreign countries, terrorism, cornucopia of whiny patients, antibiotic use, drug-resistant bugs, dead-patients-who-could-have-lived-if-the-whiny-patient-didn't-keep-on-pushing-for-a-medication-for-his-simple-cold
  3. Jay Wortman MD from Vancouver, Canada writes: You're right, the headline makes no sense. It is not the body fighting antibiotics but the bacteria resident in these subjects' mouths that have developed sustained resistance to the antibiotic. This should be a wake-up call to all those who want an antibiotic for every little cold and flu symptom and for the doctors who acquiesce.
  4. Kevin Jackson from United States writes: My chiropractor was right!!!!!!! He has been telling my family for years about antibiotic resistance and how it causes problems in the body and in society in the long run!
  5. Digital Taco from Canada writes: Wow, can you give me your chiropractor's #? I want to know winning 's for the next lotto 64/9 draw.
  6. David C from Canada writes: Ooops, just a caution here boys and girls: the study was funded by a pharmaceutical company which makes a macrolide class of antibiotic that is in direct competition with the macrolide that this study found to be the bad guy (ie: causes resistance for 6 months). They have been beating this drum for a couple of years now. Now, you may say "who cares who funded it - it's science, right?". Nope - from years of working in this field, I can tell you that one day a company representative will walk in and have a study like this one, and the next day the other company will come by with an opposite study. Justice may be blind, but science certainly isn't.
  7. matso matso from Windsor, Canada writes: Some chiropractors also think they can cure diseases such as diabetes and cancer with spinal manipulation, so I'd suggest taking the diatribe against antibiotics with a grain of salt. It is well known in the medical community that the haphazard use of antibiotics breeds resistant bacteria. Regardless of the funding source, this study furthers the need for more scrutiny of patient symptoms, a tighter hold on the prescription pad, and education of the patient on the differences between viral and bacterial infections.
  8. Cathy Jenkins from Australia writes: I can only hope that something will be done to raise awareness so that doctors don't fall behind. I'm sure new things are discovered all the time. Literally make them be aware rather than just having 'resources' available.

    I think if you've already taken antibiotics within a certain period of time, before a doctor prescribes more they should check you for candida yeast infections.
  9. the group of one from paris, France writes: I'm with David C .... The pharmaceutical business is a Billion Dollar industry and whoever funds the research has an agenda.
    That said, I try to take antibiotics as little as posible.
  10. Lawrence Hutchinson from Houston, United States writes: The resistant bacteria which colonize the mouth are part of the body just as beneficial bacteria are. Therefore, the title of the article is appropriate....it is the body fighting the antibiotic.
  11. A skeptical MD from Canada writes: The huge majority of antibiotics used in Canada (about 80%) are consumed as food additives in animal feed for chickens, cows, and pigs, not as prescribed medications. If any kind of wake up call is needed, it's one that leads to the banning of this practice nationwide.
  12. Gord Murray from Canada writes: Click up a notch then the idea of recommending antibiotics, perhaps a due discard if more than a year since last course.
    What's a notch? How many notches to 'your last year isn't up yet'?
    Tough measures.
  13. keith stringer from Cincinnati, United States writes: The debate about the appropriateness of the headline (authors Wortman, Taco, Hutchinson) depends on one's perspective. If you dissect a normal human body into billions of separate cells, you will find that the average body consists of more than ten times as many bacterial cells as mammalian cells. And those bacterial cells are helpful in your intestine and elsewehere - so do you count those bacterial cells as part of your normal body? Well, if you do, then the headline suits your perspective, if you do not, then the headline does not. Perhaps a better headline would be "Antibiotic Overuse Makes Microbes Resistant For Months".
  14. bj sutherland from Victoria, Canada writes: I'm with the first post by von foopendorf, what has happened to research on bacteriophaghes? I tried to get some information when I saw a company who were doing research listed on the TSX and got a reply that they are trying to develop them for use with animals. I guess to do away with antibiotics in our food system. But after seeing a really interesting show about how they are used in Russia and Georgia these little critters that can be found in our sewer effluent look to be a very effective and cheap response to many types of infections.
    I've only taken antibiotics twice in my life. Once to find out I was allergic to penicillin as a teen and once much later. Hopefully I can stay away from them til I croak.
  15. harry carnie from NORTHERN,B.C., Canada writes: Well then ........let us get anibiotics the h--l OUT of our food!

    Animals (cattle) in crowded, unhealthy , feed lots, have anti biotics fed to them in their food as a regular routine(we will not mention pesticides this time)Same with chickens, pigs.
    And YES..according to "regs" they are to allow TIME for these medications
    to pass from the animal BEFORE SLAUGHTER...........and if I leave my false
    teeth under my pillow, the tooth fairy will visit.
  16. Douglas Campbell from writes: Hello;
    i) Research on bacteriophage viruses to control bacterial populations was pursued extensively in the former Soviet Union, with some promise. But bacteria evolve resistance to bacteriophages even faster than they evolve resistance to antibiotics. In most natural communities of bacteria a fraction of cells are resistant to any given bacteriophage.
    ii) The particular identity of the macrolide antibiotic (and who makes it/funds the study) is not relevant to the generality of the conclusions. There is nothing here about exact antibiotic actions or resistance mechanisms. We can expect generally similar findings for most or all antibiotics.
    iii) Antibiotic use in intensive agriculture is a shameful misuse of these precious resources, to lower the cost of meat. Limiting use to critical human care might greatly prolong the useful life of antibiotic classes.

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