Originally published August 26 2005
Overuse of antibiotics linked to Chinese pig disease
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The mutation of bacterium in Chinese pigs in the Sichuan Province could possibly be because of overaggressive antibiotic use.
The spread of a pig-borne disease in Sichuan Province and the high death toll have thrown the spotlight on the widespread and indiscriminate use of antibiotics in Asia, giving the bacterium added resistance.
Streptococcus suis, which has rarely spread to humans in the past and should have been relatively easy to control if treated early with antibiotics, has infected 214 people in the province in recent weeks, killing 39.
Hong Kong's Health Authority on Tuesday said a butcher at a leading supermarket chain had become the fourth person infected with the bacterium in the territory since the outbreak was first reported in June.
"Penicillin can be used in New Zealand and America to kill bacteria like streptococcus pneumoniae (a major cause of pneumonia).
But here, resistance is so bad that even if penicillin works for you, you will have to take higher doses or you have to use other antibiotics," said Raymond Mak, a pharmacist at the Queen Mary Hospital in Hong Kong.
Scientists blame bacterial resistance in Hong Kong to improper prescription and overprescription by doctors, many of whom readily dispense antibiotics to patients who may just have colds or the flu -- for which antibiotics are totally useless as they can't fight viruses.
If you put a lot of pressure using particular antibiotics, they will become resistant and continue to live.
They will mutate, use all means to get around it," said microbiology professor Margaret Ip at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Hong Kong.
Many doctors also prescribe antibiotics that cover a wide range of bacteria without doing proper lab tests.
The scientists say such practices must be stopped or mankind will face a shrinking pool of antibiotics that work.
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