# The Post-Antibiotic Age? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 22, 2013, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-post-antibiotic-age/674499 "2013-11-22T06:24:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2013, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-post-antibiotic-age/674499/61 "2013-11-28T15:38:57Z")
What about using genetic engineering to breed mosquitos that don’t carry malaria? these could out-compete the bad, disease carriers. has this been tried? ---
**Author:** ![deltasigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2013, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-post-antibiotic-age/674499/62 "2013-11-28T15:49:24Z")
Better yet, turn them into [flying vaccination](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7473887/Genetically-modified-mosquitos-could-be-used-to-spread-vaccine-for-malaria.html) vectors. Right now they’re disease vectors but you could, in theory, make them work the opposite way. This article is from 2010 but I’ve read something about this very recently so I think this idea has some traction. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2013, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-post-antibiotic-age/674499/63 "2013-11-28T15:56:08Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > What about using genetic engineering to breed mosquitos that don’t carry malaria? these could out-compete the bad, disease carriers. > has this been tried? There is research using sterile insects, but I think they are still figuring out how to scale it. Really, screening windows and using mosquito nets is very effective, but it’s hard to get people to sleep under mosquito nets (objectively, they are really uncomfortable), and there are logistical challenges to getting nets where they need to be. ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2013, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-post-antibiotic-age/674499/64 "2013-11-29T02:28:10Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > Technology is wonderful, but it needs to be combined with good public heath practice. I am not sure that the problem is individual doctors. I think counterfeit drugs are probably a bigger threat. But just because we might be okay (for now) is not a good reason to be blase about drug resistance. We’ve already seen some worst-case scenarios popping up. I don’t think most Docs are blasé. However I do think that in the US and other educated countries, antibiotics are overused because of the sophistication of the population (see my example for otitis media, above) and in less educated countries, antibiotics are overused because of the unsophistication of the population. Your malaria example is a good one and would occur with or without counterfeit drugs. In less developed areas where malaria is endemic, anti-malarials–when available–are handed out like candy without any confirmatory diagnosis (for resource, not educational, reasons). When I go to undeveloped places as a physician, it’s a constant battle not to hand out antibiotics, period. The population learns real fast not to accept a benign alternative, and learns real fast to make up symptoms that might happen because (where I go) the Hospital Boat only shows up every three months. Different modus operandi on the part of the patient than in the US, but the same result: overuse of any and all antibiotics and an increasing demand to overuse even the expensive ones. The world is what it is. One can be un-blasé and nevertheless not be convinced there is a very viable solution other than increasingly expensive antibiotics and other approaches. It’s an eternal war, and germs are surprisingly well-constructed to take on modern science. It’s kind of remarkable that we’ve actually defeated a few of them… I believe in being non-blasé, but I also see most efforts to fix overuse of antibiotics as pretty quixotic. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-post-antibiotic-age/674499/65 "2013-12-12T02:17:40Z")
FDA hopes to curb antibiotic use on farms > **[FDA hopes to curb antibiotic use on farms | CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2013/12/11/health/fda-antibiotics-farms/index.html?eref=rss_mostpopular)** > > The Food and Drug Administration announces a plan aimed at phasing out the use of certain antibiotics in food-producing animals. FDA takes steps to phase out antibiotics in meat > **[FDA takes steps to phase out antibiotics in meat](https://news.yahoo.com/fda-takes-steps-phase-antibiotics-201513958.html)** > > Citing a potential threat to public health, the Food and Drug Administration is taking steps toward phasing out the use of some antibiotics in animals processed for meat. Many cattle, hog and poultry producers ... ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-post-antibiotic-age/674499/66 "2014-04-30T23:19:08Z")
The World Health Organization has just released a major report supporting this view: ““Without urgent, coordinated action by many stakeholders, the world is headed for a post-antibiotic era, in which common infections and minor injuries which have been treatable for decades can once again kill,” says Dr Keiji Fukuda, WHO’s Assistant Director-General for Health Security.” Summary at: [http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2014/amr-report/en/](http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2014/amr-report/en/) Full Report at: [http://www.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/112642/1/9789241564748\_eng.pdf](http://www.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/112642/1/9789241564748_eng.pdf) But probably nothing will be done. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2019, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-post-antibiotic-age/674499/67 "2019-11-14T01:56:28Z")
Updating this thread from 2013, six years ago: > [@](#): > > Drug-resistant “superbugs” infect 2.8 million people and cause more than 35,000 deaths each year, underscoring the enormous public health threat of germs in what one official describes as a “post-antibiotic era,” according to a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report… > > \*\*The CDC said there are nearly twice as many deaths from antibiotic-resistant infections compared to the agency’s 2013 report, which likely underestimated the numbers. \*\* > **[The 'post-antibiotic era' is here: Drug-resistant superbugs sicken 2.8M and...](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2019/11/13/superbugs-sicken-millions-kill-cdc-report/4180317002/)** > > A coming post-antibiotic era is already here: CDC says there's an infection every 11 seconds from superbugs that are immune to antibiotics. So if you start extrapolating 6 years in the future, 12 years in the future, 18 years in the future, 24 years in the future when do your reach a point “Post Antibiotic Infection is the Leading Cause of Death in the U.S”? ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2019, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-post-antibiotic-age/674499/68 "2019-11-14T02:02:38Z")
Here is the CDC report: > **[2019-ar-threats-report-508.pdf](https://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/pdf/threats-report/2019-ar-threats-report-508.pdf)** > > 19.83 MB ---
**Author:** ![SamuelA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@SamuelA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SamuelA)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2019, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-post-antibiotic-age/674499/69 "2019-11-14T02:24:13Z")
> [@Chief\_Pedant](#): > > I don’t think most Docs are blasé. However I do think that in the US and other educated countries, antibiotics are overused because of the sophistication of the population (see my example for otitis media, above) and in less educated countries, antibiotics are overused because of the unsophistication of the population. Your malaria example is a good one and would occur with or without counterfeit drugs. In less developed areas where malaria is endemic, anti-malarials–when available–are handed out like candy without any confirmatory diagnosis (for resource, not educational, reasons). When I go to undeveloped places as a physician, it’s a constant battle not to hand out antibiotics, period. > The world is what it is. One can be un-blasé and nevertheless not be convinced there is a very viable solution other than increasingly expensive antibiotics and other approaches. It’s an eternal war, and germs are surprisingly well-constructed to take on modern science. It’s kind of remarkable that we’ve actually defeated a few of them… > > **I believe in being non-blasé, but I also see most efforts to fix overuse of antibiotics as pretty quixotic.** As I understand it, 90% of the true problem is this: the current method of funding drug research doesn’t reward researching new antibiotics. They have a valuable role in saving lives but the very nature of targeting a 1% market (the 1% of patients who all current antibiotics fail on) is there’s no _revenue_. So, as I understand it, right now, in the USA, the number of antibiotics being researched at the expensive part of the research - the clinical trials - is **zero.** Nada. Zilch. Nothing. That’s the problem. There are thousands of candidate molecules - even whole approaches that are totally new (phages), or rationally designed molecules aimed at known binding sites on specific types of bacteria - and absolutely none are being seriously researched. (where “seriously” means the billion+ dollars of funding required has actually been allocated) And talking about better agricultural stewardship or some sort of policy to restrict their use is pointless because it just doesn’t matter. If we used half as many antibiotics it still gives a crapton of chances of species to evolve resistance, and if we never develop any new ones, total resistance is a matter of time. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2019, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-post-antibiotic-age/674499/70 "2019-11-14T17:55:15Z")
> [@SamuelA](#): > > As I understand it, 90% of the true problem is this: the current method of funding drug research doesn’t reward researching new antibiotics. They have a valuable role in saving lives but the very nature of targeting a 1% market (the 1% of patients who all current antibiotics fail on) is there’s no _revenue_. The other thing to consider is the way antibiotics are used. Perfect world:\* I see you have an infection. Take this five day course of tablets…\* Five days of sales every several years versus sales every day for the rest of your life for antihypertensives, asthma medication - and so on. There are two ways of looking at this problem - one is pitifully low return on investment; the other is huge prices for a course of antibiotics. They are both a pretty tough sell. > [@SamuelA](#): > > So, as I understand it, right now, in the USA, the number of antibiotics being researched at the expensive part of the research - the clinical trials - is **zero.** There’s certainly a problem, but a quick google of \ appears to contradict this. [This ref](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-41693229) is a couple of years out of date, but I’m choosy about my sources - the BBC is one of the best. > [@](#): > > As of May 2017, a total of 51 antibiotics were in the clinical pipeline - around a third targeting priority pathogens, 12 families of bacteria seen as posing the greatest threat to human health. It seems highly improbable that none of this development is in the US. But certainly, nobody is going to argue that everything in the garden is rosy. j [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-post-antibiotic-age/674499.md?page=3)