What to Do When Antibiotics Don't Work!

What to Do When Antibiotics Don't Work! PDF Author: Dirk W. L. Van Gils
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780972019408
Category : Alternative medicine
Languages : en
Pages : 203

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Book Description

What to Do When Antibiotics Don't Work!

What to Do When Antibiotics Don't Work! PDF Author: Dirk W. L. Van Gils
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780972019408
Category : Alternative medicine
Languages : en
Pages : 203

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Book Description


Superbug

Superbug PDF Author: Maryn McKenna
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1439171831
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
LURKING in our homes, hospitals, schools, and farms is a terrifying pathogen that is evolving faster than the medical community can track it or drug developers can create antibiotics to quell it. That pathogen is MRSA—methicillin-resistant Staphyloccocus aureus—and Superbug is the first book to tell the story of its shocking spread and the alarming danger it poses to us all. Doctors long thought that MRSA was confined to hospitals and clinics, infecting almost exclusively those who were either already ill or old. But through remarkable reporting, including hundreds of interviews with the leading researchers and doctors tracking the deadly bacterium, acclaimed science journalist Maryn McKenna reveals the hidden history of MRSA’s relentless advance—how it has overwhelmed hospitals, assaulted families, and infiltrated agriculture and livestock, moving inexorably into the food chain. Taking readers into the medical centers where frustrated physicians must discard drug after drug as they struggle to keep patients alive, she discloses an explosion of cases that demonstrate how MRSA is growing more virulent, while evolving resistance to antibiotics with astonishing speed. It may infect us at any time, no matter how healthy we are; it is carried by a stunning number of our household pets; and it has been detected in food animals from cows to chickens to pigs. With the sensitivity of a novelist, McKenna portrays the emotional and financial devastation endured by MRSA’s victims, vividly describing the many stealthy ways in which the pathogen overtakes the body and the shock and grief of parents whose healthy children were felled by infection in just hours. Through dogged detective work, she discloses the unheard warnings that predicted the current crisis and lays bare the flaws that have allowed MRSA to rage out of control: misplaced government spending, inadequate public health surveillance, misguided agricultural practices, and vast overuse of the few precious drugs we have left. Empowering readers with the knowledge they need for self-defense, Superbug sounds an alarm: MRSA has evolved into a global emergency that touches almost every aspect of modern life. It is, as one deeply concerned researcher tells McKenna, "the biggest thing since AIDS."

The Drugs Don't Work

The Drugs Don't Work PDF Author: Professor Dame Sally Davies
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0241968887
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 69

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Book Description
The Drugs Don't Work - A Penguin Special by Professor Dame Sally Davies, the Chief Medical Officer for England 'If we fail to act, we are looking at an almost unthinkable scenario where antibiotics no longer work and we are cast back into the dark ages of medicine where treatable infections and injuries will kill once again' David Cameron, Prime Minister Resistance to our current range of antibiotics is the new inconvenient truth. If we don't act now, we risk the health of our parents, our children and our grandchildren. Antibiotics add, on average, twenty years to our lives. For over seventy years, since the manufacture of penicillin in 1943, we have survived extraordinary operations and life-threatening infections. We are so familiar with these wonder drugs that we take them for granted. The truth is that we have been abusing them: as patients, as doctors, as travellers, in our food. No new class of antibacterial has been discovered for twenty six years and the bugs are fighting back. If we do not take responsibility now, in a few decades we may start dying from the most commonplace of operations and ailments that can today be treated easily. This short book, which will be enjoyed by readers of An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore and Bad Pharma by Ben Goldacre, will be the subject of a TEDex talk given by Professor Dame Sally Davies at the Royal Albert Hall. Professor Dame Sally C. Davies is the Chief Medical Officer for England and the first woman to hold the post. As CMO she is the independent advisor to the Government on medical matters with particular interest in Public Health and Research. She holds a number of international advisory positions and is an Emeritus Professor at Imperial College. Dr Jonathan Grant is a Principal Research Fellow and former President at RAND Europe, a not-for-profit public policy research institute. His main research interests are on health R&D policy and the use of research and evidence in policymaking. He was formerly Head of Policy at The Wellcome Trust. He received his PhD from the Faculty of Medicine, University of London, and his B.Sc. (Econ) from the London School of Economics. Professor Mike Catchpole is an internationally recognized expert in infectious diseases and the Director of Infectious Disease Surveillance and Control at Public Health England. He has coordinated many national infectious disease outbreak investigations and is an advisor to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. He is also a visiting professor at Imperial College.

Biography of Resistance

Biography of Resistance PDF Author: Muhammad H. Zaman
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062862987
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 301

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Book Description
Award-winning Boston University educator and researcher Muhammad H. Zaman provides a chilling look at the rise of antibiotic-resistant superbugs, explaining how we got here and what we must do to address this growing global health crisis. In September 2016, a woman in Nevada became the first known case in the U.S. of a person who died of an infection resistant to every antibiotic available. Her death is the worst nightmare of infectious disease doctors and public health professionals. While bacteria live within us and are essential for our health, some strains can kill us. As bacteria continue to mutate, becoming increasingly resistant to known antibiotics, we are likely to face a public health crisis of unimaginable proportions. “It will be like the great plague of the middle ages, the influenza pandemic of 1918, the AIDS crisis of the 1990s, and the Ebola epidemic of 2014 all combined into a single threat,” Muhammad H. Zaman warns. The Biography of Resistance is Zaman’s riveting and timely look at why and how microbes are becoming superbugs. It is a story of science and evolution that looks to history, culture, attitudes and our own individual choices and collective human behavior. Following the trail of resistant bacteria from previously uncontacted tribes in the Amazon to the isolated islands in the Arctic, from the urban slums of Karachi to the wilderness of the Australian outback, Zaman examines the myriad factors contributing to this unfolding health crisis—including war, greed, natural disasters, and germophobia—to the culprits driving it: pharmaceutical companies, farmers, industrialists, doctors, governments, and ordinary people, all whose choices are pushing us closer to catastrophe. Joining the ranks of acclaimed works like Microbe Hunters, The Emperor of All Maladies, and Spillover, A Biography of Resistance is a riveting and chilling tale from a natural storyteller on the front lines, and a clarion call to address the biggest public health threat of our time.

Mayo Clinic on Digestive Health

Mayo Clinic on Digestive Health PDF Author: Sahil Khanna
Publisher: Rosetta Books
ISBN: 0795352891
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 446

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Book Description
Identify and treat digestive problems before they become difficult to manage—with this comprehensive reference from the world-renowned Mayo Clinic. Digestive problems are among the most common reasons people see doctors and take medication. This updated fourth edition of Mayo Clinic on Digestive Health is an authoritative yet practical reference manual that includes information on everything from healthy digestion to cancer treatment. The book is packed with helpful advice on treating common digestive conditions and preventing serious disease, with information on: Belching, bloating and gas • Celiac disease • Colorectal cancer • Constipation and diarrhea • Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis • Diverticular disease • Gallbladder disease • Heartburn and GERD • Irritable bowel syndrome • Liver disease • Pancreatic disease • Swallowing difficulties • Ulcers and stomach pain Also covered are diagnostic testing, mealtime recommendations and self-care tips for relieving discomfort, and the latest information on endoscopic ultrasound, virtual colonoscopy, and the newer minimally invasive treatments for gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).

Antibiotics and Bacterial Resistance

Antibiotics and Bacterial Resistance PDF Author: Wiley
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118580915
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 202

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Book Description
The need for novel antibiotics is greater now than perhaps any time since the pre-antibiotic era. Indeed, the recent collapse of many pharmaceutical antibacterial groups, combined with the emergence of hypervirulent and pan-antibiotic-resistant bacteria has severely compromised infection treatment options and led to dramatic increases in the incidence and severity of bacterial infections. This collection of reviews and laboratory protocols gives the reader an introduction to the causes of antibiotic resistance, the bacterial strains that pose the largest danger to humans (i.e., streptococci, pneumococci and enterococci) and the antimicrobial agents used to combat infections with these organisms. Some new avenues that are being investigated for antibiotic development are also discussed. Such developments include the discovery of agents that inhibit bacterial RNA degradation, the bacterial ribosome, and structure-based approaches to antibiotic drug discovery. Two laboratory protocols are provided to illustrate different strategies for discovering new antibiotics. One is a bacterial growth inhibition assay to identify inhibitors of bacterial growth that specifically target conditionally essential enzymes in the pathway of interest. The other protocol is used to identify inhibitors of bacterial cell-to-cell signaling. This e-book — a curated collection from eLS, WIREs, and Current Protocols — offers a fantastic introduction to the field of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance for students or interdisciplinary collaborators.

When Antibiotics Fail

When Antibiotics Fail PDF Author: The Expert Panel on the Potential Socio-Economic Impacts of Antimicrobial Resistance in Canada
Publisher: Council of Canadian Academies
ISBN: 1926522753
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
When Antibiotics Fail examines the current impacts of AMR on our healthcare system, projects the future impact on Canada’s GDP, and looks at how widespread resistance will influence the day-to-day lives of Canadians. The report examines these issues through a One Health lens, recognizing the interconnected nature of AMR, from healthcare settings to the environment to the agriculture sector. It is the most comprehensive report to date on the economic impact of AMR in Canada.

Antibiotics

Antibiotics PDF Author: Mary E. Wilson
Publisher:
ISBN: 0190663413
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 433

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Book Description
Virtually everyone has taken antibiotics. They can be lifesavers -- and they can be useless. What are they? How are they used? And what happens as the effectiveness of antibiotics continues to decline? Antibiotics: What Everyone Needs to Know(R) examines the personal and societal implications of our planet's most important -- and frequently misused -- medications. In a question-and-answer format, it unpacks the most complicated aspects of this issue, including: How antibiotics are used (and overused) in humans, plants, and livestock; the causes and consequences of bacterial resistance to antibiotics; how the globalized world enables antibiotic resistance to spread quickly; and the difficult decisions ahead for both medical care and the food system. Grounded in the latest scientific research and crafted for general readers, Antibiotics: What Everyone Needs to Know(R) offers a clear-eyed overview of where we are, and what the future holds, as antibiotics lose their power.

Superbugs

Superbugs PDF Author: Matt McCarthy
Publisher: Scribe Publications
ISBN: 192569352X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description
Drug-resistant bacteria — known as superbugs — are one of the biggest medical threats of our time. Here, a doctor, researcher, and ethics professor tells the exhilarating story of his race to beat them and save countless lives. When doctor Matt McCarthy first meets Jackson, a mechanic from Queens, it is in the ER, where he has come for treatment for an infected gunshot wound. Usually, antibiotics would be prescribed, but Jackson’s infection is one of a growing number of superbugs, bacteria that have built up resistance to known drugs. He only has one option, and if that doesn’t work he may lose his leg or even his life. On the same day, McCarthy and his mentor Tom Walsh begin work on a groundbreaking clinical trial for a new antibiotic they believe will eradicate certain kinds of superbugs and demonstrate to Big Pharma that investment in these drugs can save millions of lives and prove financially viable. But there are countless hoops to jump through before they can begin administering the drug to patients, and for people like Jackson time is in short supply. Superbugs is a compelling tale of medical ingenuity. From the muddy trenches of the First World War, where Alexander Fleming searched for a cure for soldiers with infected wounds, to breakthroughs in antibiotics and antifungals today that could revolutionise how infections are treated, McCarthy takes the reader on a roller-coaster ride through the history — and future — of medicine. Along the way, we meet patients like Remy, a teenage girl with a dangerous and rare infection; Donny, a retired firefighter with a compromised immune system; and Bill, the author’s own father-in-law, who contracts a deadly staph infection. And we learn about the ethics of medical research: why potentially life-saving treatments are often delayed for years to protect patients from exploitation. Can McCarthy get his trial approved and underway in time to save the lives of his countless patients infected with deadly bacteria, who have otherwise lost all hope?

Missing Microbes

Missing Microbes PDF Author: Martin J. Blaser, MD
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company
ISBN: 0805098119
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
“In Missing Microbes, Martin Blaser sounds [an] alarm. He patiently and thoroughly builds a compelling case that the threat of antibiotic overuse goes far beyond resistant infections.”—Nature Renowned microbiologist Dr. Martin J. Blaser invites us into the wilds of the human microbiome, where for hundreds of thousands of years bacterial and human cells have existed in a peaceful symbiosis that is responsible for the equilibrium and health of our bodies. Now this invisible Eden is under assault from our overreliance on medical advances including antibiotics and caesarian sections, threatening the extinction of our irreplaceable microbes and leading to severe health consequences. Taking us into the lab to recount his groundbreaking studies, Blaser not only provides elegant support for his theory, he guides us to what we can do to avoid even more catastrophic health problems in the future. “Missing Microbes is science writing at its very best—crisply argued and beautifully written, with stunning insights about the human microbiome and workable solutions to an urgent global crisis.”—David M. Oshinsky, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Polio: An American Story