Antibiotics misuses

However, the use of these antimicrobial medicines could result in the presence of residues in foods of animal origin. Some representative examples of possible sources of contamination of dairy and meat products from medicinal residues is the extended use or the high dose of approved medicines, frequent mammary gland therapy with antibiotics, misuse of these medicines (e.g., the wrong mixing of contaminated milk with uncontaminated milk), twofold increase of the dose, use of dry period therapy in milking cows, and improper application of the directions of use of these medicines. ... 

Abstract Resistance to modern antibiotics is currently a major health concern in treating infectious diseases. Abuse, overuse, and misuse of antibiotics in treating human illness have caused the pathogens to develop resistance through a process known as natural selection. The most common mechanism of resistance to -lactam antibiotics is the production of /3-lactamases, which destroy -lactam antibiotics before they reach the bacterial target. Over the last two decades, combination therapy involving treatment with a -lactam antibiotic and a /3-lactamase inhibitor has become very successful in controlling -lactamase-mediated bacterial resistance. Currently available inhibitors like... 

In many therapeutic situations the drug combinations are completely misused (12). Adding another drug to a combination does not reduce the need for sound clinical judgement in therapy. Although there are many disease situations in which the use of more than one antibacterial agent may be justified, generalizations about various combinations of bactericidal or bacteriostatic antibiotics or admixtures have not proven valid. Basically, antibiotic combinations should be avoided as a common practice unless they have shown a clear increase in effectiveness as reported in the literature. 

Lappe, M., 1982. Germs That Won t Die Medical Consequences of the Misuse of Antibiotics. Anchor Press, Garden City, NY, 246 pp. 

Exposure to antibiotics does not, in itself, cause bacteria to become drug resistant. Changes in bacteria that fecilitate resistance occur naturally as a result of mutation (i.e., change in the chromosomal DNA) or as a result of the bacteria receiving extrachromosomal DNA in the form of a plasmid from other bacteria. Exposure to an antibiotic simply selects for strains of the organism that have become resistant through these natural processes. Misuse of antibiotics (e.g., prescribing them for nonbacte-rial infections) increases the rate at which this selection occurs. 

Although the pundits will claim that the Golden Age of Antibiotics is long past, the necessity for new agents to combat infectious disease of all types is still with us, and with the massive misuse of potent antibiotics, the microbes that are now major causes of diseases of man (and animals) are rapidly exhibiting multiresistant phenotypes. Perhaps nowhere is the effect of multiple resistance phenotype seen more than in the problems that arise in the treatment of tuberculosis. Most if not all clinical strains are resistant to at least two if not more of the conunonly used antibiotics, and currently, increasing numbers of patients present with strains... 

Arguably many of the most important medical advances this century relate to the development of powerful antibiotics and vaccines to treat infectious diseases caused by bacteria, viruses, and parasites. But those breakthroughs have come with a cost—the microbes have learned how to fight back, and with a vengeance. The misuse of antibiotics—these drugs are overprescribed by doctors and people often fail to finish a full prescription—is the most common reason why antibiotic resistance is coming so rapidly to the fore. 

Finally, let me quote a few sentences from an editorial (2) in a recent issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, entitled "Use and Misuse of Antibiotics. After stressing the dramatic benefits which followed the discovery of antibiotics, the editorial goes on to say ... 

Salamah SD, Hossain MM, Ahmed T Enquiry into the causes of misuse of antibiotics. Saudi Med J... 

In short, the test of baseline balance is a misuse of the significance test. The fact that it is frequently performed does not constitute a defence any more than the fact that antibiotics are commonly employed to treat viral infections proves that they are effective antivirals. And the fact that baseline tests are commonly performed without... 

Bacterial infection associated with medical devices remains a challenge to modern medicine as they provide the surface and environment for bacterial colonisation. In particular, bacteria commonly adhere more preferably to hydrophobic materials, which are commonly used to make medical devices. Bacteria are also becoming increasingly resistant to common antibiotic treatments as a result of the misuse and abuse of antibiotics. There is an urgent need to find alternatives to antibiotics in the global prevention and treatment of device-associated infections. Silver NP have... 

Increased awareness from consumers and producers has resulted in calls for more responsible and sustainable aquaculture. Public opinion and regulation authorities in most export countries focus now on the misuse of antibiotics in aquaculture, and public attention has focussed on alternative production methods (Verbeeke, 2001 Feedinfo, 2005). Furthermore, the EU has banned all antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) from livestock production since January 2006, as the use of low level AGPs in animal feeds carries the possibility of resistance transfer from the bacterial community to species that are pathogenic in humans (Liem, 2004). 

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