health week
Tuesday, October 27, 2015 9
The Threat of Antibiotic Resistance - Law Could
Be The Answer
Many people are unknowingly being exposed to antibiotics
ê Photo credit: Alamy
A
simmy sahdra › news editor
The researchers reviewed hundreds of clinical
trials between 1986 and 2011 that examined the
effectiveness of antibiotics in preventing infection
after chemotherapy or ten common surgical
procedures. The procedures included: hip fracture
surgery, pacemaker implantation, surgical abortion,
spinal surgery, hip replacement, C-section delivery,
prostate biopsy, appendectomy, hysterectomy, and
colon surgery.
The researchers estimate that between thirtynine and fifty-one percent of surgical site infections
and twenty-seven percent of post-chemotherapy
infections are caused by bacteria already somewhat
resistant to antibiotics. Using a computer model,
the study found that with a ten percent increase in
antibiotic resistance, at least 2,100 more infection-
ne w s t udy published in
the Lancet on 16 October
estimates that as many as half
of infections after surgery and
more than a quarter of infections after
chemotherapy are caused by organisms
already resistant to standard antibiotics.
The World Health Organization (WHO)
has also stated that antibiotic resistance
trends pose threats to hospital care.
Researchers have projected that if
“...the development of
antibiotic resistance increases by just
new antibiotics will not help
thirty percent in the United States,
effective antibiotic
the “tougher-to-treat” bacteria
controls are not in place.”
could cause 6,300 more deaths
and 120,000 more infections in
related deaths and 40,000 more infections following
patients undergoing chemotherapy surgery or chemo would occur a year. A seventy
percent increase in resistance would lead to an
or common surgical procedures
additional 15,000 deaths and 280,000 infections
annually.
a year. While one would probably
The researchers warn that the development of new
assume that with technology advances
antibiotics will not help if eff V7F