We have previously discussed how Congress and the White House continues to spend hundreds of billions on foreign wars without pause but have failed to address an emerging global threat to humanity: antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria. It is part of the lunacy that governs this nation. We spend wildly on wars while largely ignoring a threat that could endanger the entire population. Recently, Thomas Frieden, director of the Center of Disease Control and Prevention, put it in the starkest terms to try to get someone to pay attention. Indeed, Margaret Chan, director general of the World Health Organization, has warned that we are moving into a “post-antibiotic era.” That means “an end to modern medicine as we know it. Things as common as strep throat or a child’s scratched knee could once again kill.”
The CDC has been presenting data on the rise of bacteria resistance to carbapenems, the most powerful antibiotics that represent our final line of defense. CDC is reporting the appearance of the bacteria now in every state and what it describes as the realization of the “nightmare” scenario for the medical field. Frieden puts the estimate now at over 2 million Americans with infections each year that are resistant to antibiotics. Of those, at least 23,000 people die as a result. To get perspective, we have been waging wars for over ten years at a cost of over a trillion dollars after 3000 were killed by Islamic fanatics. Almost ten times that number are dying each year from this crisis and we are looking at an exponential increase. Yet, few members of Congress have even mentioned this threat or the need for a “war on resistant bacteria.” It just doesn’t get you the same popularity and votes as demanding more defense appropriations. While money has been gradually increased in recent years, it is still a fraction of our appropriations given to pork projects and war efforts.
In the meantime, our politicians will do what they have repeatedly done: they will ignore the warnings and wait for a pandemic. We make fun of the Taliban barring vaccinations, but do relatively little in the face of the loss of antibiotics that are the backbone of modern medicine.
Once we are faced with a rising death toll, they will suddenly act and spend wildly long after the point where the crisis might have been avoided. After all, who needs modern medicine when there are wars yet to be fought. Members only recently expressed frustration in facing public opposition to entering the Syrian war. Bacteria research does not feed the massive lobby in Washington behind defense contracts or produce photo ops in front of ship launchings. Indeed, preventing a crisis does not give you any immediate political benefits. They know that they will not be blamed for the crisis that could have been avoided and can cite to past appropriations as evidence that they did something, albeit not much. They did relatively little to stop the use of antibiotics in livestock or the overuse of antibiotics by physicians that have fueled drug-resistant bacteria. After all, the agricultural lobby is an immediate threat. A pandemic is still an abstraction.
Besides, modern medicine is so last century.
Source: Washington Post
Nick, Yep. Cuccinelli is an extremist on matters concerning women’s healthcare and gay rights.
SWM, Virginia is a dynamic state. Conventional wisdom seems to have the Clinton butt boy winning. I hope your guy wins. As we discussed, they’re both sleazy, so in my book it matters little. It obviously matters to you, so good luck.
The CDC and NIH are doing this all wrong. They should start a campaign proclaiming these bugs are socialist. They don’t care about money. they attack the rich same as the poor. These bugs have no respect for religion either. They are Godless. Good christians are attacked with the same virulence as “others” . Also they cross borders freely embedding themselves in America with no respect for our “exceptionalism”
“These Godless Socialist Foreigner Bacterias need to be stopped”
There you go CDC & NIH, problem solved. :o)
Our current science czar John Holdren along with the Erhlics professed 40 years ago that if population measures were not put into effect the outcome would be more than man could bare. They wanted to put stuff in the drinking supply to sterilize people. Not so far fetched that aids/hiv was invented to rid the world of Africans as it appears the rate was higher amongst blacks even though it was suppose to be a gay thing. Couldn’t catch aids unless you were gay or lived in Africa.This is a dream come true for those who believe in population control. Look at China and how well they are doing with that. They are going to die off in mass numbers because they can’;t even breathe the air.
We don’t need another billion people so let war disease and more natural disasters commence. The less people on Earth the better. Get rid of all the undesirables. Put them in front of the health panel at let them decide if this person has lived a desirable life and whether they are worthy of treatment. If not send them to the burn heap as soon as they are diagnosed with any disease.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/15/opinion/weisman-climate-population/index.html?hpt=hp_t4
Let’s go fight another war someplace….. Who needs stinking health coverage anyways….
Nick, Booker defeated a Tea Partyer last week. Mcaullife needs to defeat one in a couple weeks. Those furloughed workers in Virginia are not too happy with the Tea Party.
patsylvania, AIDS/HIV was not handled like any other epidemic because of the political sensitivities. However, once folks started dying en masse the scientists took over and started treating that epidemic as just that, and not a political issue. Hopefully it was a lesson learned.
Maybe the U.S. Supreme Court, under Citizens United, will criminally prosecute these corporate officers, attorneys and lobbyists as “corporate persons” in a tort case!
SWM, How ’bout a chant, “The Tea Party is killing our children.” You are in full 2014/16 mode, woman. Pace yourself..it’s a marathon not a sprint. I understand your point, but please!
There is an interesting book, THE RIVER, which traces a possible evolution of AIDS/HIV. I do believe we had a hand in this condition of antibiotic overdose. Now that their potency is failing, we will need funding to apply to this world crisis and research is imperative!
patsylvania, Great point. Part of this problem is out obsession w/ disinfectants. George Carlin did a hilarious bit about immune systems and how they need to get into shape, just like our muscles. Don’t use your muscles, they atrophy. Don’t use your immune system by having every bacteria killed, well when your body gets a bacteria[and it always will], it won’t know what to do. Kids need to get dirty, get their immune system healthy. We were also blessed w/ a great family doc who had the same philosophy as yours.
The Tea Party shutdown of the government furloughed over 8000 workers at the CDC. The NIH also was forced to furloughed thousands. Crippling these agencies and having private industry (big pharma) in charge seems to be their goal. They also want to shutdown the EPA and let industry police itself with regards to pollution.
Go to a rural feed mill and look @ the shelves. They’re stacked w/ Costco sized vials of antibiotics for farmers to shoot their livestock as prevention of disease. Eat a cheeseburger and you get a double dose of antibiotics. Go kosher, @ least you’ll only get a single dose.
Our duopoly has devolved to each party tries to scare their base w/ phony crises, and they ignore the real ones. Plus, as Dredd led off w/ big Pharma is complicit and they own both parties.
When my kids were little they had the normal preventative health care regimen. When they had a more annoying illness that they “caught” in school, my pediatrician would make a diagnosis, then more often than not, say, “a little baby aspirin and some soup and a storybook.” I was usually fuming because I just wanted a “cure” as soon as possible. In retrospect, I now channel that doctor’s (Woodward) wisdom. As grown ups their immune systems are strong. They normally recover quickly from a “bug.” Dr. Woodward used to say, oh yes, this is all the rage this week. Not to worry, this will pass. Get on the soup and the storybook…..
Big pharma and big government don’t make enough money on silly things like life saving medicine. It’s the repeated use stuff that gets all the attention. Pharma loves the viagra, rogaine, statins, acid reflux stuff since it’s such a money maker. Antibiotic research is not profitable enough to justify the cost. Politicians are in the hip pockets of big pharma and it’s a free market afterall, so why the worry. When it’s needed it will be developed. And try prying defense dollars from the hands of defense contractors for a push to save humanity from the scourge of infection. Ain’t gonna happen. Guns and tanks are easy money makers and again the politicians have an easier time scaring the country with words like Al Qaeda or terrorism than they do by saying infection resistant bacteria, which doesn’t carry the same fear response.
Maybe if the child of a senator or high profile congresscritter is harmed by infection resistant bacteria, then maybe a few more dollars will be made available, but it will take the death and suffering of millions before a soulless congress takes action.
Oh, and don’t forget GOP and many conservative Dems are trying to cut government budgets, not enlarge them. They could care less how many suffer their ignorance.
Conspiracy Theory Time: When I was a graduate student, I attended a few faculty conferences/’retreats’. A visiting professor gave a speech on how he came to the conclusion that HIV/AIDS is one of many ‘man-made’ viruses/diseases created to ‘curtail’ the population growth in the world.
Fighting antibiotic resistance would necessitate going up against big Pharma and big Agra. That isn’t going to happen any time soon. It is a travesty.
Thank you Big Pharma.