Recently, I felt the first signs of a sinus infection and a well-meaning friend offered to give me some of his leftover antibiotics. But while I appreciated the sentiment, I was shocked that he thought so casually of sharing antibiotics.
Most people know that misusing antibiotics is dangerous because it can lead to the development of drug-resistant bacteria. In fact, the first three cases of drug-resistant bacteria in the U.S. were only discovered recently.
Antibiotic-resistance has the medical community on edge, but over-prescription by doctors is not the main culprit: More than 70 percent of medically important antibiotics are actually sold for use on farms and are administered to mostly healthy animals. This overuse creates so-called "superbugs," which can migrate from farms into our communities.
Since the development of antibiotics in the twentieth century we have relied on them to save countless lives. But if antibiotics continue to fail because of overuse, what will happen to those most vulnerable to infections? Already, more than 23,000 Americans die from antibiotic-resistant illnesses every year and more than 2 million people are affected by them.
Of course we want livestock to be healthy. But that is better achieved through healthier animal husbandry. We don't want to ban the use of antibiotics. But they should be saved for use on sick animals. If we want to continue benefiting from these "wonder drugs," we have to hold everyone using or administering them accountable to the same standard.
Claris Park, Baltimore