Antibiotic resistance, a growing public health threat that impacts every person in the world, takes centerstage this coming week. Antibiotics are the cornerstones of modern medicine yet they are in jeopardy of becoming useless. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) both warn that if we don’t significantly reduce the use of antibiotics in human medicine and industrial farming we will soon return to a pre-antibiotic era. Said more plainly, we’ll be living in a world where even a simple cut could kill. As a result, the United States, the European Union and the WHO are dedicating this week to educating patients, doctors, clinicians and farmers about the need to properly use and prescribe antibiotics.
So where do you come in? Do your part and join one of these efforts this week and help raise awareness about the need to use antibiotics wisely. Visit CDC’s Get Smart About Antibiotics – follow and share their numerous tools, infographics and videos and use the hashtag: #GetSmart. (And join their Twitter chat on Thursday, November 17.) Visit the European Antibiotic Awareness Day (hosted by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control), check out their great materials and participate in their Twitter chat on Friday, November 18 (use hashtag #EAAD2016). The WHO is hosting a World Antibiotic Awareness Week as well. They’ve compiled helpful information and very user-friendly materials. I encourage you to share this with your family, friends and colleagues. (Really anyone who will listen to you!). Help spread the word because time is running out for life-saving antibiotics.
Yet, our efforts can’t start and end with this one week. We need this kind of attention and diligence every day. Overall, it’s been a good year for calling attention to the antibiotic resistance crisis and the urgent need to address it. In September, the United Nations General Assembly gave unprecedented attention to the issue – only the 4th time in the history of the world body that it focused on a health issue. Every member state signed a declaration to put countrywide plans in place to end inappropriate uses of antibiotics in human medicine and in agriculture. While the declaration fell short of setting global reduction goals, it’s a start and a step in the right direction.
The United Kingdom and the United States also announced earlier this year that they would not only invest serious money into the development of new antibiotics, but also diagnostic tests. This is important because diagnostic tests can be used to identify, monitor, track & prevent antibiotic resistance. These tests can determine what is truly ailing a patient and what the best treatment options are, thereby reducing potential misuse. Diagnostic tests can be especially useful in outpatient settings where the CDC recently reported that one in three prescriptions is likely unnecessary. We need to continue to encourage innovation in this space.
We also saw leadership in the marketplace. Most notably, the fast food giant McDonald’s announced it is now serving only chicken raised without medically important antibiotics in all of its 14,000+ U.S. stores. I’ve written before about these exciting announcements coming from other restaurants and food companies, but McDonald’s new policy has an important distinction. Rather than eliminating all antibiotic use, the company focused on ending the use of any drugs important to human medicine. This change is most welcome news because it underscores that poultry can be produced on a large-scale while using antibiotics responsibly. (McDonald's USA suppliers and farmers will still be allowed to use ionophores, an antimicrobial that is not used in human medicine). McDonald’s is now trying to figure out how it can enact this same policy globally and also apply similar policies to the beef and pork it sources.
Antibiotics may soon be ineffective. That’s a gloomy prediction of the future of medicine, but it does not have to come true. If we rein in overuse in all sectors we can extend the power of antibiotics. Antibiotic resistance is everyone’s problem so we all need to work on turning this issue around and that is why this week’s public awareness campaigns are so crucial.
I leave you with this: Make it your mission to put into practice what you learn this week. It’s cold and flu season and antibiotics are useless against both, so don’t demand the drugs from your doctor. If your doctor gives you an antibiotic prescription, ask if you really need it. Go out on your lunch break today and get your flu shot. Purchase meat and poultry raised without antibiotics or with responsible antibiotic use. Learn more about what labels to look for here.
Antibiotics are a public good – they benefit everyone – so we all have a responsibility to protect them from unnecessary and improper use in people and agriculture so they continue to work today and for generations to come.