The Spread of Superbugs

[TheQueen]

March 7, 2010
Op-Ed Columnist
The Spread of Superbugs
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

Until three months ago, Thomas M. Dukes was a vigorous, healthy executive at a California plastics company. Then, over the course of a few days in December as he was planning his Christmas shopping, E. coli bacteria ravaged his body and tore his life apart.

Mr. Dukes is a reminder that as long as we’re examining our health care system, we need to scrutinize more than insurance companies. We also need to curb the way modern agribusiness madly overuses antibiotics, leaving them ineffective for sick humans.

Antibacterial drugs were revolutionary when they were introduced in the United States in 1936, virtually eliminating diseases like tuberculosis here and making surgery and childbirth far safer. But now we’re seeing increasing numbers of superbugs that survive antibiotics. One of the best-known — MRSA, a kind of staph infection — kills about 18,000 Americans annually. That’s more than die of AIDS.

CONTINUE READING: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/opinion/07kristof.html?em

[figmentmom]

Many people seem to think that their doctor isn't taking them seriously if they don't leave his or her office with a prescription for an antibiotic - almost a "what am I paying you for?!?" mentality.


...but while we're on the subject of drugs, can someone PLEASE stop drug companies from endlessly advertising their latest moneymakers? ("Ask your doctor if !#&*$$$$ is right for YOU!") It's nauseating, and it ought to be illegal.

[pinkrose]

Many people seem to think that their doctor isn't taking them seriously if they don't leave his or her office with a prescription for an antibiotic - almost a "what am I paying you for?!?" mentality.


...but while we're on the subject of drugs, can someone PLEASE stop drug companies from endlessly advertising their latest moneymakers? ("Ask your doctor if !#&*$$$$ is right for YOU!") It's nauseating, and it ought to be illegal. I totally agree!!!

It make me so mad to hear about Dr's. giving people antibiodics just for the heck of it. I'm so glad that my ped. does not do that. Ashley was on an antibiodic daily (from age 1.5 until she turned 4) due to bladder reflux. I hated that.

[jmaxwell007]

To be honest, Im tired of seeing pecker pill commercials, birth control commercials that explain how to "insert" the ring vaginally, and most antidepressant commercials. Not saying they are products that people can't benefit from, I just tired of seeing them over and over.

[Doug11]

Has anyone ever spoofed cialis' ads with separate bathtubs for grandma and grandpa? Because, you know, being naked in a bathtub next to one's partner who is naked in a separate bathtub. . . that's almost as good as being in twin beds separated by a night table and lamp. :lol

I see Mary was the first to respond to this thread. What do you want to bet she thought this was going to be about volkswagons? :rotfl

[figmentmom]

Has anyone ever spoofed cialis' ads with separate bathtubs for grandma and grandpa? Because, you know, being naked in a bathtub next to one's partner who is naked in a separate bathtub. . . that's almost as good as being in twin beds separated by a night table and lamp. :lol

I see Mary was the first to respond to this thread. What do you want to bet she thought this was going to be about volkswagons? :rotfl

:rotfl

No, actually, I knew it was about germs. :lol

Those Cialis ads are offensively hilarious. Hey, everyone knows that Grandma and Grandpa tote around matching clawfoot bathtubs in that RV so they can haul them out and watch the sunset "when the moment is right!" :goofy :rotfl

[Oscar Brito]

The sad thing is...that those advertisements probably work...if not they wouldn't bother spending the money on them. We are part of the problem when it comes to our health (as Mary alluded to in her post about people's insistence for antibiotics). The question is how do we fix the problem? If you think about it we're a society heavily addicted to prescription drugs. Not saying we don't need some of those....but really...kinda makes you wonder how people managed before these pills came out...:lookaroun

[Christy]

The drug ads only work if people can get their doctors to give them the drugs, soooooooo :lookaroun

I actually love the birth control commercials... because it's always a month or two after the latest one that the commercials from the law firms start saying if you've had blood clots, blah blah blah, give us a call. :rotfl :lookaroun

[figmentmom]

The drug ads only work if people can get their doctors to give them the drugs, soooooooo :lookaroun

There was a hilarious cartoon in the New Yorker a year or so ago of a doctor handing a patient a prescription. The caption read, "Here, try this - I just bought a hundred shares yesterday." :rotfl