Superbug antibiotic backlash? Let’s review the science

Don’t call it a war on superbugs.

That’s the latest advice from international public health experts who have been watching with alarm as bacteria and fungi that cause disease have become ever more adept at evading the drugs we deploy against them.

The vocabulary we use to debate what to do about this rising resistance is so confusing that it may actually be an obstacle to success, the experts argued in a commentary published [May 3] in the journal Nature.

There’s no dispute that the superbug menace is real: The rise of resistant pathogens poses a grave threat to modern medicine.

Sweeping phrases about the looming bacterial menace can also create problems, the authors said. Such terminology can create the erroneous impression that all bacteria are bad and need to be expelled…

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Likewise, a push to ban all antimicrobials given to livestock raised for food could have unintended consequences. Some medicines used in agricultural production are crucial to raising these animals, but have no impact on human health, the authors said.

For more background on the Genetic Literacy Project, read GLP on Wikipedia