Silent resistance
This discovery is important. It might mean that antibiotics are losing theirability to fight disease. Antibiotics are currently our “wonder drugs.” This research suggests that even those who have not been treated with antibioticshave bacteria with genes that may defeat them.
Mr. Dantas said these findings demonstrate the need to increase research fornew antibiotics. If this does not happen, he warned, we are going to lose the battle against infectious diseases.
And, he said, the findings also show the need to use current antibiotics morecarefully. Some doctors are campaigning to reduce the use of the drugs inpatients who would recover without them. Some doctors oppose thewidespread practice of treating healthy livestock, the animals we raise forfood, with antibiotics to prevent illness.
There is an existing amount of antibiotic-resistant genes that are waiting to be switched on, Mr. Dant as said. When you use antibiotics -- whether in agriculture with livestock or in a clinic with patients -- you increase the amount of antibiotic-resistant genes.
Scientists are not the only ones concerned about resistance to antibiotics. Government leaders are also worried. In March, U.S. President BarackObama announced a new five-year plan to fight antibiotic-resistant bacteria. He called the issue one of the most serious modern-day public health threats.
Before meeting with science advisors, President Obama told reporters at the White House that many people take antibiotics for granted. To take something for granted means to not fully see the value of something because it has been around for so long and is so common.
Here is Mr. Obama:
“We take antibiotics for granted … and we’re extraordinarily fortunate to have been living in a period when our antibiotics work. If we start seeing thosemedicines diminish in effectiveness, we’re going to have big problems. And part of the solution here is not just finding replacements for traditional antibiotics -- it’s also making sure that we’re using antibiotics properly.”