Are you ready for a world without antibiotics?

[MrFluffy-X]

ill be dead so i dont care

 

[sosolidshoe]

Functional, controllable nanomachinery which is capable of the level of fidelity required to combat bacterial infections within the body is highly unlikely in the sort of time-frame we're discussing here. We're still decades away, billions will be dead prematurely by the time nanomachines are capable of helping with this issue.

But, it's not quite as doom and gloom as the original article supposes, because they're taking this trend of resistant bacterium in isolation. Advances in regenerative medicine will eliminate many of the issues surrounding organ transplantation, synthetic biology will allow us to customise our immune systems, and more effective vaccination will stem at least a portion of the flood.

Of course, we swing back into the "holy shit, PANIC!" zone again when you consider all the other bullshit going on right now. Science is under assault in schools by wingnuts, and cynical media manipulation by certain corporate interests has resulted in trust in science among the public being at an all-time low. Parents who would rather find comfort in lies than deal with truth are refusing to vaccinate their children. Drug companies, as mentioned, are investing very little money in necessary advances, because they are currently unprofitable, forgetting that A: in the future, they will be very profitable, and B: without them they may no longer have any customers, what with humanity being a dead species. Governments are investing less and less money in scientific research and education, instead choosing to pump funds into "quick fix" policies to up their poll ratings, or feed their nation's military industrial and financial sectors.

Frankly, unless we have some kind of paradigm-shift in our thinking, we're fucked.

 

[Jark212]

I think that this article takes a incredibly pessimistic view. The writer seems to completely disregards the fact that were constantly researching new kinds of antibiotics to combat the evolving bacteria as we speak.

 

[Vildleder]

This isn't too much of a problem in the long term. As the bacteria evolve and become resistant to our current antibiotics, Medicine will likewise evolve to counteract the new threat. New inventions in the field of antibiotics will come quickly, as corporations around the world figure out that there is a hell of a lot of money in developing new cures and preventive medicines + treatments.

The only short term issue is the time between antibiotics becoming useless, and newer, better antibiotics being developed. However, with the current rate of technological advancement, this period is likely to be quite short.

All in all, this doesn't really faze me that much

 

[omega247]

The russians years ago developed something that involved spraying a virus that attacks bacteria in order to disinfect things. It worked because the virus interfered with bacterial cell walls, so was perfectly safe for us. I cant remember the specifics it was A-level biology which was 5 years ago.
Anyway it was a delightfully low tech way of disinfecting things, but it never caught on in the west for some reason (probably because money couldn't be made from it). Maybe they could phase it in now?

 

[Dango]

By the time this happens (in a few generations according to the article), we'll almost definitely have some other way to combat viruses, so this won't matter much.

 

[tautologico]

If this includes bathroom germs becoming resistant to antibiotic soap, I will fucking lose it. At least don't let it be known to the general public if that does happen.

You do realize that antibiotic soap is part of the problem, don't you?

 

[Sonicron]

Wonderful. So on top of an increasing percentage of autoimmune diseases in industrial nations (due to what I can only describe as antibacterial carpet bombing) we've finally reached the point of becoming resistant to antibiotics? Dear Lord, am I glad to be in the care of a doctor who doesn't just toss a batch of penicillin my way at the slightest boo-boo. Antibiotics are supposed to be applied only in extreme circumstances, goddammit!

Worse than that it seems; it's not antibiotics not doing anything for us, it's their prevalent use which forced new bacteria to adapt and circumvent it. Unless you can retroactively go back in time and force everyone to use it as carefully as you, we're all borked in the near future.

Always a possibility, yeah. All it takes is one superbug and a line-up of circumstances allowing a quick and massive spread... without functioning countermeasures we won't have to worry about overpopulation anymore, to put it mildly.

When exactly did this development start, anyway? I mean, distributing antibiotics like candy? Or has this been going on for decades, and I was just lucky enough to be raised by parents with doctorates in internal medicine and microbiology respectively who knew what kind of heavy-duty stuff antibiotics actually are?

 

[Grigori361]

I'm actually fine with that, I've never reacted well to them, and I've had to depend on other things because the detriments of using antibiotics for me always out weigh the benefits, it should be of little consequence to me actually.

 

[Trebort]

This is one of the best reasons for, like we do animals, putting people in to quarantine for 6 or so months, when they come to Britain. Especially if they are coming from anything less than a "first world country".

 

[mad825]

I dont think this will ever happen, Given how now we are using genetic information to our advantage because as we grow ever so more advanced in computer hardware/software we have been able to decode genetic information quicker, quicker and quicker even more so we now have the ability to "program" a bacteria cell which has been a recent breakthrough

 

[Kagim]

When exactly did this development start, anyway? I mean, distributing antibiotics like candy? Or has this been going on for decades, and I was just lucky enough to be raised by parents with doctorates in internal medicine and microbiology respectively who knew what kind of heavy-duty stuff antibiotics actually are?

I think a while actually.

I remember being in 1994-1996 one of my science books was telling how anti-biotic drugs were breeding super germs.

As well i know a number of parents then and now that basically make there children wear gloves everywhere they go. Maybe you were lucky like I was, but this "PURGE EVERYTHING" idea has been going on since I was a kid. My dad just thought it was stupid and told me to go play in the mud.

 

[thethingthatlurks]

I think the last antibiotics I took was amoxcillin after having my wisdom teeth removed four or five years ago. I have never been truly sick, aside from a few cases of cold, flu, and the other normal stuff, and I don't take medication stronger than aspirin, and the occasional nyquil (none of those can, of course, impact other organisms in my body). I am also perfectly aware of the risks that widespread antibiotic use poses (I think I wrote a paper for an English class on that back in high school...), but I am far more concerned about antiviral meds. There are far fewer of those than antibiotics, and viruses adapt faster. You can blame the Japanese btw, they lead the world in Tamiflu consumption...

So yeah, don't take antibiotics like candy. Chances are you don't know anything about medicine, so kindly stop assuming you need something you most likely don't. That also goes for the billions of pills being advertised on TV...

 

[Caligulove]

Definitely a problem. But there's always a solution that we can work out. Antibiotics themselves were thought to be a miracle already, marvels of science.

We can do better.
All part of the process of scientific innovation and progress. Always an uphill struggle.

 

[Kuroneko97]

I'm currently on antibiotics because I recently had my wisdom teeth pulled out, so this is a bit of bad news for me. But I feel I always have a little good luck following me, so I'll try to relax.