The Age of Antibiotics is Coming to an End, as Wider Variety of
Bacteria are Now Impervious
November 09, 2013
Story at-a-glance
The antibiotic pipeline is running dry as an increasing number
of superbugs are outsmarting our antibiotics; we are on the tip
of the end of the antibiotic age, which will change modern
medicine as we know it
The CDC estimates that at least 23,000 Americans die each year
as a direct result of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, with many
more dying from complications; we presently have no tracking
system for these infections
Of particular concern are bacteria possessing the NDM-1 gene
which allows them to transfer their antibiotic immunity to your
normal bacteria, thereby transforming ordinary bacteria into
superbugs
Drug companies are no longer interested in developing
antibiotics because they are not as profitable as other, more
expensive drugs that can be given to people indefinitely, rather
than for just two weeks
The most significant driver of this problem is the massive
overuse of antibiotics by the agricultural industry, which
administers 24.6 million pounds of antibiotics to livestock
every year for non-medical purposes
By Dr. Mercola
Believing an antibiotic will cure your illness is taken for
granted by most people nowadays, but that is rapidly changing.
According to the experts, the age of antibiotic drugs is coming to
an end. And the implications are dire.
There are two primary reasons for this drug demise.
First, many strains of bacteria are becoming resistant to
even our strongest antibiotics and are causing deadly
infections. The bacteria are evolving faster than we are.
Secondly, drug companies have all but abandoned the
development of new antibiotics because of their poor profit
margins.
The fact that the drug industry is showing no interest is itself
an ominous sign! Big Pharma is much more interested in selling you
drugs from which they can make a handsome profit, such as those
marketed for cancer, heart disease, arthritis, diabetes, depression,
Alzheimer’s and erectile dysfunction.
Experts have been warning about the implications of antibiotic
resistance for years, but never before have their warnings been so
emphatic. Dr. Arjun Srinivasan, associate director of the US Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said to PBS Frontline:1
“For a long time, there have been newspaper stories and
magazine articles that asked 'The end of antibiotics?’ Well, now
I would say you can change the title to 'The end of antibiotics,
period.'"
Nature has found a way around every antibiotic we’ve come up
with, and we’re quickly running out of options. We now face the
perfect storm to take us back to the pre-antibiotic age, and there
is no comprehensive plan going forward. If our few remaining
effective antibiotics fail, we can expect significant casualties.
Thankfully, there is a lot you can do to fend off infection
naturally—and prevention is key, NOW more than ever!
Superbugs 23,000… Humans Zero
According to a landmark “Antibiotic Resistance Threat Report”
published by the CDC2
earlier this year, 2 million American adults and children become
infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria each year, and at least
23,000 of them die as a direct result of those infections. Even more
die from complications.
According to the Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA),
just one organism—methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus,
better known as MRSA—kills more Americans each year than the
combined total of emphysema, HIV/AIDS, Parkinson’s disease, and
homicide.3
This death toll is really just an estimate, and the real number
is likely much higher. The true extent of superbug infections
remains unknown because no one is tracking them—at least not in the
US.
Hospitals here are not required to report outbreaks of
antibiotic-resistant bacteria, unlike in the EU where they are at
least making efforts to track them. The US is in desperate need of a
surveillance program for reporting and tracking this growing threat.4
What we’re seeing is the evolution of bacteria. Basically,
microorganisms have learned to teach each other how to outsmart the
best pharmaceutical drugs we have to offer, and they are definitely
winning the battle.
The 18 Most-Dangerous Pathogens of 2013
The majority of the highly dangerous bacteria are in the
Gram-negative category, because that variety has body armor that
makes it extremely tough. Some forms are now exhibiting
“panresistance”—meaning, resistance to absolutely every antibiotic
in existence. In the CDC’s report “Antibiotic Resistance Threats in
the United States, 2013,” the following 18 superbugs are identified
as “urgent, serious and concerning threats” to humankind:5
Drug-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae:
The sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea is becoming
increasingly resistant to the last type of antibiotics left
to treat it, having already become resistant to less potent
antibiotics. Strains of the disease that are resistant to
the class of antibiotic drugs called cephalosporins have
appeared in several countries.
Multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter:
Appeared in the US after Iraq and Afghanistan war vets
returned home. Tough enough to survive even on dry surfaces
like dust particles, making it easy to pass from host to
host, especially in hospital environments
Drug-resistant Campylobacter:
Campylobacter is the fourth leading cause of
foodborne illness in the US. Campylobacter bacteria
are unique in that they secrete an exotoxin that is similar
to cholera toxin.
Extended spectrum beta-lactamase producing
Enterobacteriaceae (ESBLs): ESBLs are enzymes
produced by certain types of bacteria, which renders the
bacteria resistant to the antibiotics used to treat them.
ESBL-producing E. Coli, for example, are resistant to
penicillins and cephalosporins, and are becoming more
frequent in urinary tract infections
Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE):
Increasingly common in hospital settings
Multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa:
Linked to serious bloodstream infections and surgical
wounds, can lead to pneumonia and other complications; some
are resistant to nearly every family of antibiotic
Drug-resistant Non-typhoidal
Salmonella and Salmonella Typhi
Drug-resistant Shigella: An
infectious disease caused by Shigella bacteria
Clostridium Difficile (C. Diff):
Can live in the gut without causing symptoms but attacks
when your immune system is weakened; C. Diff is on the
rise—infections increased by 400 percent between 2000 and
2007—and is becoming increasingly antibiotic-resistant
Methicillin-resistant and Vancomycin-resistant
Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA and VRSA):
Gram-positive bacteria infecting about 80,000 people each
year, can lead to sepsis and death. Increasing in
communities, although decreasing in hospitals over the past
decade; recent evidence points to factory-scale hog CAFOs as
a primary source; MRSA is also a significant risk for your
pets
Drug-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae: A
leading cause of pneumonia, bacteremia, sinusitis, and acute
otitis media
Drug-resistant tuberculosis: Extensively
resistant TB (XDR TB) has a 40 percent mortality rate and is
on the rise worldwide; tuberculosis is one of the most
infectious diseases because it’s so easily spread through
the air when infected people cough or sneeze
Erythromycin-resistant Group A and
Clindamycin-resistant Group B Streptococcus
Armed and Extremely Dangerous: NDM-1 and KPC
NDM-1, or “New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase 1,’” is a bacterial
gene that confers “super-resistance” to conventional antibiotics.
This gene is carried by a rising number of bacteria and makes them
virtually unstoppable. What makes NDM-1 such a force to be
reckoned with is that it can easily be passed from one bacterium to
another, like a kid sharing his lunch—turning your ordinary bacteria
into superbacteria. NDM-1 has now reached 48 countries. In the US,
the CDC identified 16 cases in 2012, and that number has already
doubled for 2013. Another type of highly drug-resistant bacteria is
KPC, or Klebsiella pneumoniae Carbapenemase (KPC)-Producing
bacteria. Both KPC and NDM-1 infections are highly lethal, causing
death in about half of those diagnosed.
How the Modern Food System has Created an Unbeatable “Army” of
Superbugs
Antibiotic overuse and inappropriate use bears a heavy
responsibility for creating the superbug crisis we are facing today.
According to Dr. Srinivasan, as much as half of all antibiotics used
in clinics and hospitals “are either unneeded or patients are
getting the wrong drugs to treat their infections.”1
The pervasive misuse of antibiotics by the agriculture industry
is particularly reprehensible. Agriculture accounts for about 80
percent of all antibiotics used in the US.
24.6 million pounds of antibiotics are administered to livestock
in the US every year for purposes other than treating disease,
such as making the animals grow bigger faster. In other parts of the
world, such as the EU, adding antibiotics to animal feed to
accelerate growth has been
banned for years. The antibiotic residues in meat and dairy, as
well as the resistant bacteria, are passed on to you in the foods
you eat. Eighty different antibiotics are allowed in cows’
milk. According to the CDC, 22 percent of
antibiotic-resistant illness in humans is in fact linked to
food. In the words of Dr. Srinivasan:
“The more you use an antibiotic, the more you expose a
bacteria to an antibiotic, the greater the likelihood that
resistance to that antibiotic is going to develop. So the more
antibiotics we put into people, we put into the environment, we
put into livestock, the more opportunities we create for these
bacteria to become resistant.”
Unfortunately, the
US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has again reneged on its
plan to withdraw approval of penicillin and tetracycline antibiotics
for use in food-producing animal feed. By bowing to industry
pressure, the FDA is allowing an unsafe practice to continue at the
expense of your health.
Another contributing factor is the genetic engineering of our
foods. As Jeffrey Smith explained at the recent GMO Summit, it’s
possible that
GMOs from food can transfer genetic material to your normal gut
bacteria, conferring antibiotic resistance and turning them into
superbugs. GMOs have been scientifically proven to activate and
deactivate hundreds if not thousands of genes. We have no idea about
the gravity of this risk, as no one has yet studied it.
Is Tainted Meat the “New Normal”?
Previous research suggests you have a 50/50 chance of buying meat
tainted with drug-resistant bacteria when you buy meat from your
local grocery store. But it may be even worse. Using data collected
by the federal agency called NARMS (National Antimicrobial
Resistance Monitoring System), the Environmental Working Group (EWG)
found antibiotic-resistant bacteria in 81 percent of ground turkey,
69 percent of pork chops, 55 percent of ground beef, and 39 percent
of raw chicken parts purchased in stores in 2011.
EWG nutritionist and the report's lead researcher, Dawn
Undurraga, issued the following warning to the public:6
“Consumers should be very concerned that
antibiotic-resistant bacteria are now common in the meat aisles
of most American supermarkets... These organisms can cause
foodborne illnesses and other infections. Worse, they spread
antibiotic-resistance, which threatens to bring on a
post-antibiotic era where important medicines critical to
treating people could become ineffective.”
Recalls, Recalls, and More Recalls
This is a
Flash-based video and may not be viewable on mobile devices.
You would expect this widespread contamination of the food supply
to make a lot of people sick—and that is exactly what we’re seeing.
With so much contaminated food, it isn’t surprising that food
recalls are an increasingly frequent segment on the nightly news. An
ongoing outbreak of “Salmonella Heidelberg” has already
sickened at least 472 people this year, who consumed tainted Foster
Farms chicken from three central California processing plants.
People have fallen ill across 20 states, from Washington State to
Puerto Rico.7
Forty-two percent have required hospitalization, which is an
uncommonly high rate due to the virulence of this strain.8
Why is it so virulent?
The Salmonella bacteria cultured from the ill were found
to be resistant to combinations of the following antibiotics:
ampicillin, chloramphenicol, gentamicin, kanamycin, streptomycin,
sulfisoxazole, and tetracycline. The CDC warned, "Antimicrobial
resistance may increase the risk of hospitalization or possible
treatment failure in infected individuals."9
Big Pharma is Washing its Hands of the Crisis it Helped to Create
The drug industry has all but abandoned
antibiotics research because these “wonder drugs” of the last
half-century are becoming ineffective—and Big Pharma knows it. The
“antibiotic bubble” has burst.10 According to Paul Stoffels, head of
Johnson & Johnson:10
"The market for a new antibiotic is very small, the
rewards are not there and so the capital is not flowing. In
cancer, people pay $30,000, $50,000 or $80,000 (per patient) for
a drug, but for an antibiotic it is likely to be only a few
hundred dollars."
Developing a new drug can take a decade of clinical trials and
reportedly cost between $800 million to one billion dollars.11
Not only are antibiotics relatively inexpensive for you, but you are
only required to take one for a week or two, which limits profits
for the manufacturer. Why put money into a cheap drug that is only
taken for a couple of weeks when they can focus their efforts on
expensive drugs that people will believe they need to take for the
rest of their lives? I guess, for the drug industry, antibiotics now
fall into the “Why Bother” category.
Rather than being guided by improved patient outcomes, the
industry is wholly guided by its endless quest for profits.
According to the ISDA, the number of new systemic antibiotics
approved by the FDA has plunged from 16 between 1983 and 1987 to
JUST TWO in the past five years.9
Only four pharmaceutical companies are still working on developing
new antibiotics. In terms of fighting gram-negative superbugs, there
were only seven antibiotics in an advanced stage of development as
of early 2013—and one belongs to a drug company that recently filed
for bankruptcy.10
Visions of a Post Antibiotic-Apocalypse
Medicine has very few options when the antibiotic pipeline
completely dries up. Hospitals are already resorting to some very
unsavory treatments, resurrecting old drugs that were abandoned for
good reasons.
For example, they have resurrected a toxic bug-killing chemical
called Colistin12
(first introduced in 1952 and known to cause kidney damage) as a
last-ditch effort to treat multidrug-resistant Gram-negative
infections. Then there is the strategy of cutting off (or cutting
out) the infected body part, which sometimes has to be performed
several times, a few inches at a time as the infection migrates
further into the patient’s body.
The bottom line is, if ALL antibiotics fail, it will in
effect mark an end to modern medicine as we know it—and we are
quickly heading in that direction.
Common illnesses such as bronchitis or strep throat may turn into
deadly sepsis. Surgeries previously considered low risk or
“routine,” such as hip replacements, might suddenly be too risky
without antibiotics. And complex surgeries like organ transplants
would essentially not be survivable.
So What’s the Solution?
The impending superbug crisis has a three-prong solution:
Better infection prevention, with a focus on strengthening
your immune system naturally
More responsible use of antibiotics for people and animals,
with a return to biodynamic farming and a complete overhaul of
our food system
Innovative new approaches to the treatment of infections
from all branches of science, natural as well as allopathic
There are some promising new avenues of study that may result in
fresh ways to fight superbugs. For example, Dutch scientists have
discovered a way to deactivate antibiotics with a blast of
ultraviolet light before bacteria have a chance to adapt, and before
the antibiotics can damage your good bacteria.13
And British scientists have discovered how bacteria talk to each
other through “quorum signaling” and are investigating ways of
disrupting this process in order to render them incapable of causing
an infection. They believe this may lead to a new line of
anti-infectives that do not kill bacteria, but instead block their
ability to cause disease.14
But the basic strategy that you have at your disposal right now is
prevention, prevention, prevention—it’s much easier to prevent an
infection than to halt one already in progress.
Avoiding antibiotic-resistance is but one of several good reasons
to avoid meats and animal products from animals raised in confined
animal feeding operations (CAFO’s). This is in part why grass-fed
pastured meat is the ONLY type of meat I recommend. If you’re
regularly eating meat bought at your local grocery store, know that
you’re in all likelihood getting a low dose of antibiotics with
every meal... and this low-dose exposure is what’s allowing bacteria
to adapt and develop such strong resistance.
What You Can Do Now
Fortunately, Mother Nature gives us a cornucopia of botanicals
that put antibiotic drugs to shame in the battle against pathogenic
microbes. Natural compounds with antimicrobial activity such as
garlic, cinnamon,
oregano extract,
colloidal silver,
Manuka honey, probiotics and
fermented foods,
echinacea, sunlight and
vitamin D are all excellent options to try before resorting to
drugs. Best of all, research has shown that bacteria do not tend to
develop resistance to these types of treatments. Perhaps nature is
smarter than most would like to think.
The basic key to keeping your immune system healthy is making
good lifestyle choices such as proper
diet,
stress management and exercise.
Remember, opt for clean, whole foods (animal and plant based),
organically raised without antibiotics and preferably locally
sourced. Antibiotics simply aren’t needed when healthy animals are
raised properly.
One chicken farmer has demonstrated that even large-scale animal
farms can manage without routine administration of antibiotic drugs
by using an herbal remedy of oregano oil and cinnamon instead!
By taking control of your own health and building a strong immune
system, you’ll minimize your risk of acquiring an
antibiotic-resistant infection.