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The antimicrobial resistance crisis needs action now

journals.plos.org

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Re: The antimicrobial resistance crisis needs action now

#61

Post by Thorentis »

retrac wrote: post #39
Brendinooo wrote: post #22

At the risk of sounding ignorant… I’ve been hearing stuff like this for twenty years now. And yet the crisis hasn’t happened. Why is that?

Like many slow moving disasters, it doesn't feel like one while you live through it. An example: gonorrhea has no golden standard cure anymore. 40 years ago a single large dose of oral antibiotics was an effective cure. It made controlling it relatively easy. In the 90s, resistance to most of the common oral antibiotics became prevalent. Through the 2010s, a single dose of an intramuscular cephalosporin was effective…

[flagged]

Re: The antimicrobial resistance crisis needs action now

#62

Post by nicoburns »

rvba wrote: post #35
zosima wrote: post #15

I am quite sure, that if a sufficient bounty was given out for developing new kinds of antimicrobials, they'd be developed in no time. The problem is that cost and risk of development and trials is too large for the current rewards, and hence there is very little new antimicrobials being developed. There are very many promising leads though, and either making development cheaper (by requiring smaller or fewer clinica…

The problem with developing a new antibiotic is that doctors from third world countries will prescribe them like candy - so the bacteria become resistant to it fast. In fact Im very scared when I read that there are plans to use antibiotics "borrowed" from ants, or bees, because probably the antibiotic will be dumped by tons and become useless after 2-3 years, while all the ants or bees in the world die out. Apart fr…

> The problem with developing a new antibiotic is that doctors from third world countries will prescribe them like candy

I think you mean first-world countries.

Re: The antimicrobial resistance crisis needs action now

#63

Post by oa335 »

christkv wrote: post #33

Its a topic that comes up again and again. We are getting resistance against modern antibiotics. There are a ton of old antibiotics that have been out of use for decades that should be retested as possible weapons. Evolving resistance comes at a cost for bacteria and over time they might loose resistance against previous antibiotics. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2014.0055... The problem is no ph…

> Evolving resistance comes at a cost for bacteria and over time they might loose resistance against previous antibiotics.

This is known as the "ecological fallacy".

> reversion to sensitivity is neither an immediate nor necessary outcome of selection simply because a resistant pathogen is no longer in an antibiotic-laden environment [1]

[1] "Why Do Antibiotics Exist" - https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/mBio.01966-21

Re: The antimicrobial resistance crisis needs action now

#64

Post by yarg »

Phage therapy seems like it's gonna become increasingly important (we've been using static munitions against increasingly dynamic enemies for far too long).

Keyhole and robotic surgeries (already advancing rapidly) are going to be significant and useful.

We also need to investigate, understand and classify symbiotic organisms with the same zeal with which we've approached pathogens.

We've spent so long glaring at the invisible enemy that we've completely ignored the invisible allies (who we regularly nuke with broad spectrum soaps, gels and other microbicides).

All we're really doing is creating monopolies for pathogens.

Maybe it's me, but a lot of these article seem to advocate for magical solutions; when there's both enhancements to current technologies and unexploited low-hanging fruit that they aren't even bothering to consider.

Re: The antimicrobial resistance crisis needs action now

#65

Post by magpi3 »

Thorentis wrote: post #61
retrac wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like many slow moving disasters, it doesn't feel like one while you live through it. An example: gonorrhea has no golden standard cure anymore. 40 years ago a single large dose of oral antibiotics was an effective cure. It made controlling it relatively easy. In the 90s, resistance to most of the common oral antibiotics became prevalent. Through the 2010s, a single dose of an intramuscular cephalosporin was effective…

[flagged]

What about someone who gets it from a partner who is sleeping around?

Re: The antimicrobial resistance crisis needs action now

#66

Post by selectodude »

nicoburns wrote: post #62
rvba wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with developing a new antibiotic is that doctors from third world countries will prescribe them like candy - so the bacteria become resistant to it fast. In fact Im very scared when I read that there are plans to use antibiotics "borrowed" from ants, or bees, because probably the antibiotic will be dumped by tons and become useless after 2-3 years, while all the ants or bees in the world die out. Apart fr…

> The problem with developing a new antibiotic is that doctors from third world countries will prescribe them like candy I think you mean first-world countries.

It's everywhere in the world. You can get antibiotics without a prescription in India.

Re: The antimicrobial resistance crisis needs action now

#68

Post by apples_oranges »

yarg wrote: post #64

Phage therapy seems like it's gonna become increasingly important (we've been using static munitions against increasingly dynamic enemies for far too long). Keyhole and robotic surgeries (already advancing rapidly) are going to be significant and useful. We also need to investigate, understand and classify symbiotic organisms with the same zeal with which we've approached pathogens. We've spent so long glaring at the…

It's time to break up the monopoly of harmful pathogens and start exploring all the options at our disposal.

Re: The antimicrobial resistance crisis needs action now

#69

Post by rogerkirkness »

apples_oranges wrote: post #68
yarg wrote: post #64

Phage therapy seems like it's gonna become increasingly important (we've been using static munitions against increasingly dynamic enemies for far too long). Keyhole and robotic surgeries (already advancing rapidly) are going to be significant and useful. We also need to investigate, understand and classify symbiotic organisms with the same zeal with which we've approached pathogens. We've spent so long glaring at the…

It's time to break up the monopoly of harmful pathogens and start exploring all the options at our disposal.

Time to drag them before congress to hold them to account.

Re: The antimicrobial resistance crisis needs action now

#70

Post by JumpCrisscross »

zosima wrote: post #15

I am quite sure, that if a sufficient bounty was given out for developing new kinds of antimicrobials, they'd be developed in no time. The problem is that cost and risk of development and trials is too large for the current rewards, and hence there is very little new antimicrobials being developed. There are very many promising leads though, and either making development cheaper (by requiring smaller or fewer clinica…

> risk of development and trials is too large

Anecdotally, from two (albeit leading) microbiologists, an additional risk if the cultural one. The thinking being, if you work on a semi-marginal anti microbial, it’s less important, but nobody will protest your margins. Versus if you develop something game changing, chances are the powers that be will take it from you.

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