Show 1164: Will We Win the Race Against Emerging Superbugs?
The People's Pharmacy
Joe and Terry Graedon
4.6 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 9 May 2019
⏱️ 59 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Dr. Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928, after observing horrific lethal infections on the battlefields of the first World War. It was the first antibiotic to defeat a wide range of terrifying diseases. Today, however, there are frequently shortages of this critical medication. In addition, penicillin and related antibiotics may not kill emerging superbugs.
Less than a century after the discovery of penicillin, many bacteria have evolved into superbugs. As a consequence, antibiotics are no longer effective in killing them. Some microbes have developed resistance to multiple drugs and can no longer be treated with medications. This year alone, drug-resistant infections will probably kill 700,000 people. By 2050, the UN estimates that as many as 10 million people will die annually from infections caused by drug-resistant microbes.
Are the Financial Incentives Misaligned?
Initially, pharmaceutical manufacturers were enthusiastic about developing new antimicrobial products. But over the last several decades, they have become much less interested in doing R&D on products that are taken only for a short term, as successful antibiotics are. Many companies would rather focus on medications that must be taken every day for years, because they get a better return on their investment. Has this contributed to the rise of the superbugs?
The Source of Emerging Superbugs:
Superbugs began to evolve by the mid-1960s. Now, pathogens like methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA have become common. Doctors are working on developing a new antimicrobial drug called dalbavansin that should treat emerging superbugs successfully for a least a while.
This Week’s Guest:
Matt McCarthy, MD, is an assistant professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medical School and a staff physician at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. Dr. McCarthy is editor-in-chief of Current Fungal Infection Reports and author of two best-selling books: Odd Man Out and The Real Doctor Will See You Shortly. His latest is Superbugs: The Race to Stop an Epidemic, to be published May 21. You can learn more at http://www.drmattmccarthy.com/books/superbugs-hc
His website is http://drmattmccarthy.com/
The photograph of Dr. McCarthy was taken by Nina Subin.
Listen to the Podcast:
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm Joe Gradyton and I'm Terry Grady. Welcome to this podcast of the People's Pharmacy. |
| 0:06.1 | You can find previous podcasts and more information on a range of health topics at people's pharmacy.com. |
| 0:15.0 | When Alexander Fleming identified penicillin almost a century ago, |
| 0:20.0 | it allowed doctors to treat life-threatening infections. |
| 0:23.7 | This is the People's Pharmacy with Terry and Joe Grayden. |
| 0:27.6 | In the 21st century, antibiotics are losing their power. |
| 0:38.0 | Pathogens have developed resistance to many of the most commonly used medications. |
| 0:43.0 | Infectious disease expert Dr. Matt McCarthy is concerned. |
| 0:47.0 | These drug-resistant bacteria and fungi are everywhere. |
| 0:51.0 | They are in our grocery stores, they're in our homes, they're in our cars, |
| 0:55.4 | they're in the nostrils of our health care workers. 5% of health care doctors and |
| 1:01.4 | nurses have MRSA in their nose. |
| 1:03.8 | Coming up on the People's Pharmacy, learn about the race to stop the epidemic of |
| 1:08.1 | superbugs. |
| 1:10.1 | First, the news. |
| 1:11.5 | In the People First, the news. |
| 1:17.0 | In the People's Pharmacy Health Headlines, coronary artery bypass grafting known as cabbage for short |
| 1:21.0 | is more effective than stents for treating patients with more than one blocked artery. |
| 1:25.0 | For years, stents have been overtaking cabbage surgery because it's less invasive. |
| 1:30.0 | However, a new study shows that for people with multi-vessel coronary artery disease, cabbage |
| 1:36.6 | results in lower mortality after one year, 7.2 percent compared to 11.5 percent of the patients who had undergone stint placement instead. |
| 1:46.0 | There were over 800 patients in each group. |
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