March 19, 2012 - The World Health Organization (WHO) announced last week that antimicrobial resistance (AMR) to antibiotics could well put an end to the practice of modern medicine. Dr. Margaret Chan, WHO's Director-General, told participants at an EU health conference that AMR is exacerbated by three current global conditions: inappropriate use of antibiotics in humans and animals, increasing world travel, and lack of development of new drugs. Rates of death among patients infected with drug-resistant germs is on the rise. In 2010, there were 650,000 cases of drug-resistant tuberculosis worldwide. (If I am remembering correctly, the increase in tuberculosis was first observed in Russian prisons, and in Russian AIDS victims.) As a result, only an extremely expensive, prolonged battle is capable of curing as many as 50% of these cases. The drugs used are toxic, and in constant short supply. Other illnesses are drug resistant as we...
Understanding the global-warming world: causes and ramifications.