Post-antibiotic era without weapons

Post-antibiotic age without weapons against infections

04/13/2015

Infected wounds, lung or bladder infections: Antibiotics are often the first choice for infections. But worldwide, more and more pathogens cause infections that are no longer effective against antibiotics. The World Health Organization (WHO) fears even a post-antibiotic age without weapons against infections. How should it be handled??

More and more pathogens are resistant to antibiotics
Whether urinary tract infection, pneumonia or infected wounds: antibiotics are usually the first choice for infections. This could change in the future, however, because more and more pathogens are resistant to the general purpose weapon. A major cause of the increase is seen by experts as being that antibiotics are used too often and often unfounded worldwide. For many complaints, for example, alternatives to antibiotics from naturopathy could help. Every year in Europe alone, about 25,000 people fall victim to bacteria against which regular antibiotics no longer help, reports „heise.de“. The World Health Organization (WHO) is even threatening global public health. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria pose a significant risk to health.

Simple infections can be fatal
An infection can cause life-threatening consequences such as blood poisoning (sepsis), inflammation of the heart's lining or the toxic shock syndrome. Even simple infections, such as pneumonia, can be fatal if bacteria are resistant to antibiotics. „Even common infections and small wounds that have been treatable for decades could become a deadly threat to humans again“, Deputy WHO Director Keiji Fukuda explained last year. Therefore, researchers are looking for strategies for a post-antibiotic age, such as „Technology Review“ reported in a detailed report in its online edition.

With antibiotics research was no money to earn
It is said that the pharmaceutical industry has long neglected antibiotic research, as there was no money to be made with the bacteria killers. Thus, low-priced preparations that were no longer under patent protection fulfilled their job very well. However, these times are obviously passé. As „heise.de“ The need for new antibiotics is so great that Roche created a new antibiotic research department early last year. According to the report, probably the best news for the industry came from the US-American company Cubist. This last year, with its blockbuster drug Cubicin against MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) more than a billion US dollars. In 2015, the pharmaceutical company Merck, the company reportedly for just under 9.5 billion US dollars.

Alternative to antibiotics
Loud „heise.de“ Cubicin is an example of the trend to search again in the arsenal of nature. Thus, after the unsuccessful search for synthetic agents with similar properties, the toxins once again help to use the microorganisms against each other. This returns research to its roots when penicillin ushered in the victory against infection. Researchers can thus raise another potential: Bacteria are resistant to their own poisons. When an active ingredient manages to overcome it, scientists speak of resistance breakers. Another interesting way to deal with antibiotic resistance is the one that has been taken by an international research team under Swiss leadership. They have developed a substance to treat bacterial infections without the use of antibiotics. At the end of last year, they reported on their alternative to antibiotics. The scientists hope that antibiotic resistance can be avoided in the future. (Ad)