The Antibiotic Paradox - Stuart B. Levy

The Antibiotic Paradox

How Miracle Drugs Are Destroying the Miracle

(Autor)

Buch | Softcover
279 Seiten
1992 | Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 1992
Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers (Verlag)
978-0-306-44331-2 (ISBN)
106,99 inkl. MwSt
}The discovery of antibiotics heralded medicines triumph over previously fatal diseases that once destroyed entire civilizationsthus earning their reputation as miracle drugs. But today, the terrifying reality of antibiotic-resistant bacteria resulting from our widespread misuse of antibiotics forewarns us that the miracle may be coming to an end. The seemingly innocent consumer who demands antibiotics to treat nonbacterial diseases such as the common cold or plays doctor by saving old prescriptions for later use is paving the way for a future of antibiotic failure. What harm can it do? is a popular refrain of people worldwide as they pop another antibiotic pill.Dr. Stuart Levy--the leading international expert on hazards of antibiotics can have deadly consequences. He explains that we are presently witnessing a massive evolutionary change in bacteria. This build-up of new antibiotic-resistant bacteria in individuals and the environment worldwide is an insidious and silent process. Thus, unwittingly consumers encounter resistant bacteria in their meat, poultry, fish, and vegetables.
Unregulated dispensing of antibiotics in poorer countries breeds countless more resistant strains. Since bacteria recognize no geographical boundaries, resistant forms can travel the globe. If this trend continues to grow unchecked, we may someday find that all of our antibiotics are obsolete.Today doctors can no longer expect that their first choice of antibiotic for womens urinary tract infections or childrens ear infections will work. Similarly, cancer therapy is rendered useless if patients are unable to fight infections that are sometimes resistant to eight to ten different drugs. In developing countries, people are now dying of previously treatable diseases that are no longer responsive to traditional antibiotics. These problems are just a harbinger of what will come if we do not act now. Dr. Levy, recognized by The New Yorker for his superb contributions to this field, is sending out an urgent message that the world cannot afford to ignore any longer. The goal of this unprecedented investigation into the dangers of antibiotic misuse is to protect the world community from resistant infections and ensure the success of antibiotics for generations to come. }

From Tragedy the Antibiotic Age is Born; Medicine Comes of Age; The Disease and the Cure: The Microscopic World of Bacteria and Antibiotics; Antibiotic Resistance: Microbial Adaptation and Evolution; The Antibiotic Myth; Antibiotics, Animals, and the Resistance Gene Pool; Antibiotic Use in Agriculture, Aquaculture, Pets and Minor Animal Species: Further Ecologic Considerations; Future Prospects: New Advances Against Potential Disaster; The Individual and Antibiotic Resistance; Antibiotic Resistance: A Societal Issue at Local, National, and International Levels.

Zusatzinfo 76 Illustrations, black and white; XIV, 279 p. 76 illus.
Verlagsort New York
Sprache englisch
Maße 133 x 203 mm
Themenwelt Medizin / Pharmazie Medizinische Fachgebiete Pharmakologie / Pharmakotherapie
Medizin / Pharmazie Pharmazie
ISBN-10 0-306-44331-7 / 0306443317
ISBN-13 978-0-306-44331-2 / 9780306443312
Zustand Neuware
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