When Medicines Are the Enemy: The Rise of MRSA and Other Drug-Resistant "Superbugs"

Good old soap and water. Remember it? These days, it seems that the old standby has been replaced by antibacterial sprays, wipes, soaps, dishwashing liquids, creams, lotions, gels and foams. Who hasn't been squicked out by those sanitizer-gel commercials that show appallingly filthy gas station bathrooms and that imply everything might as well be squeaky-clean if you carry their product? Don't you feel better when all those nasty little animated countertop bugs get eliminated with one mighty sweep of the antibiotic wipe?

These commercial visions of the creepy-crawlies, lurking on every surface and just waiting to pounce, have spawned an entire industry that makes a tidy profit exploiting our fear of infection and disease, but the horrible irony is that because of our zealous use of antibiotics, we now have truly terrifying diseases to deal with, caused by strains of bacteria that didn't even exist before we started disinfecting everything in sight.

Tony Dajer, interim Chief of New York Downtown Hospital's ER, wrote in an article in Discover Magazine that American doctors uselessly prescribe antibiotics to patients with upper respiratory infections that are caused by viruses, not bacteria. These needless prescriptions, over ten million per year, can be directly implicated in the advent of "superbugs" such as MRSA (Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus), and the newest terror, clostridium difficile, which causes an incredibly nasty condition called pseudomembraneous colitis.

How does antibiotic use promote superbugs? Two ways: First, if you really do have a bacterial infection, like strep throat, for example, you are given a prescription for antibiotics by your doctor, who tells you to finish every single dose. Why does your doctor tell you to finish the pills, even after you feel better? Because she knows that even after your pain goes away, all of the bacteria may not have been completely killed off, just weakened. If you decide you are "all better" and stop taking your antibiotics too early, the bugs have a chance to recover, and since they have been exposed to that particular antibiotic, they have a chance to build up a defense against it. This is how MRSA got so out of control.

Rule #1: You did not go to medical school. Take all the pills, just like your doctor told you to!

The second way that antibiotic use messes up our lives: Antibiotics (which, incidentally, comes from Greek roots meaning "against life", just so you know what you're dealing with, here) don't know a good microbe from a bad one. It's like tossing a bomb into a bank that's being robbed: You'll kill the robbers, but you'll also kill the guards, employees and customers. Antibiotics indiscriminately destroy good microbes that dwell in the gut and aid in digestion-e. coli, for example. Everybody is terrified of e. coli, but we all have it in our digestive tracts already. It's when it's not quite where it's supposed to be that causes a problem. Anyway, antibiotics come in and carpet-bomb until all the good stuff is as dead as the bad stuff. This leaves our intestinal tract temporarily uncolonized, and while the good bacteria do come back, there is an opportunity for some seriously bad guys to set up shop while they are temporarily displaced. This is how clostridium difficile became such a hazard.

So why do doctors end up prescribing antibiotics needlessly? They are being pressured by patients who want a quick fix from their sorrows and remember a time they had tonsillitis and penicillin cleared up their misery in short order. But tonsillitis is often caused by streptococcus bacteria, which antibiotics can kill. A cold or flu is caused by a virus, not a bacterium. We don't know how to kill viruses with medicines. This is why there's no cure for herpes or AIDS, which are caused by viruses. One of the reasons we don't know how to kill viruses is there's no clear consensus that they are even alive in the first place. We do know that our immune system can eventually handle a cold or flu on its own, but it will take a couple of weeks. The only thing the doctor can really do is prescribe treatment for your symptoms-runny nose, fever, pain, etc.

You might be able to pester your doc into writing a scrip for antibiotics (and shame on him if he lets you), and you might even feel better of you take them, but that's just a coincidence; your immune system will have made you start feeling better in a few days anyway.

Rule #2: Once again, you did not go to medical school. If the doctor tells you an antibiotic will not cure your cold, don't act like an idiot. Just take your prescription for decongestant, go home and rest!

So, antibiotics are a good thing and a very important part of our arsenal against disease and infection, but as a perfect example of the expression "Too much of a good thing is too much", our uneducated overuse of anti-bacterial wipes, soaps, scrubs, foams, lotions, ointments, dishwashing liquids, laundry detergents, air freshener, carpet cleaners and truly mind-boggling amounts of unnecessarily-prescribed antibiotics have led to some horrible germs that can only be treated with one or two very specialized (and expensive, of course!) medications, and we don't know how much time we have before those stop working as well, because as long as people are out there wiping, washing, spraying and foaming, the bugs we think we're wiping out just get stronger.

Rule #3: Throw out all the anti-bacterial products in your home, office, car and purse except for two things-anti-bacterial spray or ointment for first-aid use only, and the hand-sanitizer that is simply alcohol gel.

"Well, how", you wonder, "will I be able to protect myself from all the nasty bugs?" The answer is simple, and you've already heard it a million times from your mom, who knew what she was talking about when she said: Wash your hands.

With what? Good old soap and water.

Sources: Discover Magazine, Jan 07, WebMD.com

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