Save our Antibiotics

The Longitude prize has been awarded for research into antibiotics. Let's hope something good comes from the £10 million.

Bum - I voted for something else! So they had better succeed.

I was a bit shocked by a news item on BBC news this morning.

Some chap from a pharmaceutical company said that there has been no new research into new antibiotics for around 25 years so we have been relying on this in existence, or variations of them, since that date.

He stated that antibiotics are not used daily by people which makes them expensive to research and produce - unlike blood pressure tablets which are taken daily and provide good profit for the shareholders. He also stated this his company is doing current research.

In this article, the following paragraph highlights this:

"Ultimately, WHO's report should be a wake-up call to governments to introduce incentives for industry to develop new, affordable antibiotics that do not rely on patents and high prices and are adapted to the needs of developing countries."

www.theguardian.com/society/2014/apr/30/who-calls-urgent-action-antibiotics-antimicrobial-resistance

The UK Government, in 2012, gave £1bn for various research projects (a fair chunk included healthcare) - maybe it would be better that the research remains as government property and government produces the drugs instead of leaving it to a profit driven motive.

The darn things are over-used so much by vets and farming too - it's not just overuse in humans.

The research needs to be subsidised in some way - and jointly by a consortium of governments, as ultimately it is for the benefit of all.

Why has it taken so long for this to highlighted? It's been known about for years. Not that I'm cynical about companies and profit . . . . .

I didn't mean highlighted on here, I meant in general!

That's one thing highlighted by the petition Mishap.

I'd hoped that others might sign and share??

Indeed - it should never have been left to the motives of business in the first place. Now is the time for governments to step in in a major way, as they should have done before.

I've signed it....really important topic for me. I'm allergic to penicillin and recently had a very severe reaction to an antibiotic I've been taking for years to clear up (the all too frequent) UTI's I get. It was dial 999 and summon help and ,fortunately, for me the 3 paramedics that arrived got me back. Very frightening. I am now taking a different antibiotic but my GP has told me that there is only one more that I can try - so fingers crossed that I don't become allergic again.

Signed. I feel guilty whenever (rarely, however) I am prescribed an antibiotic. Having said that, I've had a few things that might have put an end to me, were it not for antibiotics.

Interesting piece on 'Coast' this evening. Research is being undertaken on crocodile blood which apparently contains a protein which kills bacteria including superbugs such as golden staph.
(Staphylococcus aureus)

lucid I used to get very frequent UTIs until, in a desperate search for something, anything that worked to prevent them, I found D-Mannose on the internet. Normally I am sceptical of many 'alternative' remedies but the science behind this has even convinced my former scientist DH. It's expensive but I take a daily maintenance dose and whereas I was having several UTIs a year, I now have one - if that, and generally an increase in D Mannose is enough to knock it on the head. The difference is that it doesn't kill the e-coli responsible for the UTI; it attaches to them, preventing them from adhering to the bladder wall. Then it's a case of weeing them out, so to speak. Try googling it and read about it. It's been a revelation for me and I can't understand why it's not more widely known. Other remedies - cranberry, herbs, and none of the usual personal hygiene methods - none of those has been effective for me in preventing attacks. If it was prescribed by GPs, there would be far less need to rely on antibiotics. I'd reached the stage when several of them no longer worked for me, and there is now only one I know of which is effective, should I need it.However, I've only resorted to an antibiotic once in the last 4/5 years
I think more research is needed on alternatives to antibiotics. There is even more desperate need now!

The trouble is that there's not so much money to be made by the pharmaceutical companies if they go down the alternative/complementary route, that's why they do all they can to discredit it. This industry is so powerful it's frightening.

Of course, it's horses for courses and not all alternatives or 'conventional' medicines work for everyone. I'm allergic to certain antibiotics and react badly to most other antibiotics, so have to be very unwell before I'll resort to them. I use natural remedies where possible.

Wild Mediterranean Oregano oil is worth checking out. It's very powerful, so needs to be in dilution.

Thanks Rowantree...I bought some D Mannose capsules but unfortunately not before the UTI had taken hold...I struggled on for nearly 2 weeks before giving in and getting a prescription! I am going to give them a try once I've finished the course. I've read really good reviews but it is good to get a more personal recommendation.

I'd go for the powdered form of D-Mannose, lucid and make sure that it's pure mannose. Worth reading their recommended dosage for when you have an established infection - a heaped spoonful in a glass of water or juice, every 3 hours (though actually I make it every hour at first for several hours, then every 2-3.) Don't go to the loo for about 45 mins or so at first, in order that there's a good concentration of mannose in the bladder - that's when they attach to the e-coli. Then drink plenty of water to flush it out, and repeat every few hours. After the first day you can space it out to 4 hourly.
You need to juggle the dose to make sure it's the right dose for you - everyone is different. I found that for me, a maintenance dose of 1 tsp mannose in a glass of water morning and last thing at night generally keeps me infection-free. Very occasionally I get symptoms - if I haven't been drinking enough maybe - and when I do, I just take a couple of extra doses of mannose during the day and that does the trick. I never go anywhere without it now - and I buy in bulk as it's much cheaper that way - and I will be using it indefinitely!

Only buy organic food as much as possible. Organic farmers are not allowed to use antibiotics routinely.

Yes the problem of antibiotic resistance has been known about for decades and governments (who tend to be stacked with non-scientists) have ignored the issue and hoped that pharma would suddenly come up with the answer. Despite pharma saying there was nothing much to be hopeful in the pipeline. The pipeline takes about 10 years from lab bench to prescription pad via animal and human trials.
The Longitude prize is for finding a better way of targeting antibiotics to particular infections. This would help in the coming years as more and more people with resistant infections enter hospitals. But this, if it is discovered, will just be a temporary finger in the hole in the dam as time goes on.
Evidently someone has finally got a senior politician to take some notice of the issue and got through to Cameron that "the market" is not going to solve this one before he gets his bus pass.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-28098838
Good that he is trying to get other nations on board and getting things moving but, given that we are one of the leading scientific nations of the world, I could give him some advice, as I'm sure many other people could. Put a big dollop of money into pure research now.
Because what is needed is the primary research that makes the biological discoveries that will come up with alternative ways of treating bacterial infections. This has to happen before pharma can even begin to start turning the research into a treatment.
When I talked about the pipeline - some of this research would be PhDs so would not come up with any results for another 5 years or so, if they started next October. So I hope they don't spend too long talking.

My daughter works for a large pharmaceutical - and has been researching this problem for quite some time - it seems to be quite difficult and many starters have failed for one reason or another.

Thanks for the tip about UTI's - I'll make sure to write the name down.

I only buy organic chicken and fish. I am rarely able to eat fish if we're out (apart from good old cod/haddock and chips) because it's inevitably farmed. I hear research says a farmed salmon eats its own weight in anti biotics .

I know we humans need to be responsible, but intensive farming is just not a good thing (I know, food is cheaper, but at what cost).

There are also many parts of the world where people can simply buy antibiotics so we're on a bit of a loser sadly.

IMO there was no competition for the Longitude prize but antibiotics. None of the other things could be attempted if there are no viable antibiotics. It is very worrying but they have been over prescribed for years.

You are right Nellie, but as someone on immuno suppressants, I've been very grateful to be prescribed them when needed. Two friends recently returned from holiday with chest infections. Both told no antibiotics. One of them was admitted to hospital 3 days later, with pneumonia and also blood clots on her lungs. Caution can go the other way sadly.

I voted for the water one actually. £1million quid prize aint going to help with the antibiotic problem. The water desalination one was the only one where a clever person with limited lab resources might be able to come up with "an answer".
D mannose would appear to be being marketed very heavily on the internet but that tends to set alarm bells ringing rather than the reverse. Remember all the hype about cranberry juice - and the research (backed by the producers) - but in the end cranberry juice not found to be effective for prevention or treatment.
On a quick search there seems to be very little evidence that id mannose is well researched. I found just one encouraging study but note the word pilot - its very early days. In this context safe means that during the time span of the project nobody had any horrible reactions. It does not mean it has been tested for long term safety in humans. Or for interaction with other medicines. I know UTIs must drive you mad, but you should think carefully before embarking on taking an unproved preventative self-medication that you will presumably then keep taking for months or years if you get fewer UTIs. Although they may have improved anyway. It will undoubtedly cost you a lot of money. There was a small article in a womans' mag recently about a woman spending £100s a month on a cocktail of alternative medicines because her UTIs had decreased on this cocktail - so she was afraid to give up any of the chinese herbs etc etc that she was taking.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/o/cochrane/clcentral/articles/070/CN-00988070/frame.html

When (and if) new antibiotics are developed their use must be limited and effectively controlled, world wide. What I find worrying is that there has been research into this for quite a while and as Whitewave points out there has been no success due to reasons we have yet to understand.

I voted for water, too. I think we need to get the basic needs sorted out before anything else.