Category Archives: Antibiotics

Lots to Like About Obama’s Antibiotic Resistance Initiative, But Something Is Missing

Posted on February 16, 2015 by mikethemadbiologist

Mostly missing. I’ll take Obama’s initiative to combat antibiotic resistance–there’s a lot of good stuff in there, though, as always, on certain regulatory issues (e.g., reducing antibiotic use in agriculture, and reporting standards for antibiotic use in the NHSN) the … Continue reading →

Posted in Antibiotics, Architecture, Public Health | 1 Comment

Why Phage Therapy Hasn’t Been Widely Adopted: It’s Not a Technological Problem

Posted on February 6, 2015 by mikethemadbiologist

Azeen Ghorayshi has a very good article about phage therapy–the use of bacterial viruses to treat bacterial infections (the bacterial viruses only infect bacterial, not human cells). There’s a long history of using phage to stop bacterial disease (d’Herelle’s use … Continue reading →

Posted in Antibiotics, Bidness, Economics, Viruses | 3 Comments

Let’s Not Forget That Bacteria Kill Too: The Jordanian Edition

Posted on November 4, 2014 by mikethemadbiologist

What with Ebolanoia at full tilt, we should remember that there are other, equally serious microbiological problems we face. Such as antibiotic resistant bacteria (boldface mine): “We’ve been noticing an organism, E. coli,” Bakri said. “Many patients come with urinary-tract … Continue reading →

Posted in Antibiotics, Public Health | 2 Comments

Antibiotic Resistance Lands on the Political Agenda

Posted on September 19, 2014 by mikethemadbiologist

Yesterday, the Obama Administration announced a bunch of executive actions it will be taking to combat antibiotic resistance, in conjunction with the release of the PCAST Report on Combating Antibiotic Resistance. One interesting thing is an emphasis on surveillance, including … Continue reading →

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Why Antibiotic Resistance Is a Worse Crisis Than Climate Change

Posted on June 2, 2014 by mikethemadbiologist

A couple of weeks ago, a Nature article argued that the antibiotic resistance crisis is on a par with global warming. I think the resistance crisis is worse than the global warming crisis. Here’s why: if I were appointed El … Continue reading →

Posted in Antibiotics, Fucking Morons, Global Warming, Public Health | 9 Comments

Why I’m Somewhat Optimistic About Zoetis’ and Eli Lilly’s Response to Agricultural Antibiotic Restrictions

Posted on May 11, 2014 by mikethemadbiologist

Short version: the rents have already been extracted. John Tozzi writes (boldface mine): The Food and Drug Administration announced plans to stop antibiotics from being fed to farm animals to make them grow faster late last year. The goal was … Continue reading →

Posted in Antibiotics, Economics | Comments Off on Why I’m Somewhat Optimistic About Zoetis’ and Eli Lilly’s Response to Agricultural Antibiotic Restrictions

It’s Not Just Medical Tourism, But Regular Ol’ Tourism That Can Lead to Antibiotic Resistance

Posted on April 15, 2014 by mikethemadbiologist

One of the many things that bugs me (pun intended) is the suggestion that medical tourism, where people travel to other countries for lower-cost procedures, should be seriously considered as a solution to the U.S.’s inability to provide affordable healthcare. … Continue reading →

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No, Medical Tourism Is Still Not a Solution to the U.S. Healthcare Crisis

Posted on January 21, 2014 by mikethemadbiologist

I’m hoping Dean Baker wrote this in a Swiftian modest proposal sort of way, but he’s actually raised this many times before, so I’ll take it seriously: Just as people in the United States can benefit from buying cheaper steel … Continue reading →

Posted in Antibiotics, Economics, Public Health | 2 Comments

New Chicken Microbial Survey Reveals Very Little That’s New

Posted on December 20, 2013 by mikethemadbiologist

Before I get into the meat of the post (SEE WHAT I DID THERE?), let me state for the record that I think the U.S. needs to do much more in terms of limiting antibiotic use in agriculture, especially since … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Antibiotics, Food, KPC, Public Health | 2 Comments

So If It’s Not C. Diff, What Is It?

Posted on December 17, 2013 by mikethemadbiologist

This is disconcerting (boldface mine): Fewer than one in six patients treated with powerful antibiotics for a Clostridium difficile (C. Diff) infection actually had lab-confirmed infections despite high costs and negative outcomes of unnecessary treatments, researchers reported here. At a … Continue reading →

Posted in Antibiotics | 5 Comments