To be disappointed that it's world antibiotic awareness week, but hardly anyone seems to know or care?

[Jralli]

So antibiotics are already no longer effective against previously treatable infections. Our children are potentially facing a future where antibiotics will not work at all: no caesarean sections, no hip replacements or appendix removal and no chemotherapy....and a government report estimates resistant infections will kill and extra 10m people every year by 2050. Yet the majority of people remain oblivious. A third of people in a WHO survey thought it was ok not to complete the course if they felt better and over half felt there wasn't much they could do about antibiotic resistance. As parents there is heaps we can do from practicing and teaching good hand hygiene to ensuring those we are responsible for only take antibiotics when they need them and take them as prescribed. if the WHO is struggling to raise awareness may be mumsnetters should help!

Findo - interesting that you should say that.

My child carries harmful bacteria - and a couple of years ago grew another bacteria that is equally serious. The consultant said if the antibiotics we tried didn't work, then they would consider letting the original host bacteria attack the new bacteria. The idea being that the original bacteria had several sensitivities to some antibiotics - the new bacteria was more resistant to most antibiotics. The original bacteria (which was more prevalent in my child) would destroy the new bacteria, and while it would initially allow the the original bacteria to spread, the original bacteria is more easily controlled by my child's antibiotics.

Obviously this isn't an ideal method as it can lead to an exacerbation of my child's Illness because of the original bacteria and may cause some damage to my son. But I'd choose that route over an antibiotic resistant bacteria.

I hope this post makes some sense as to how doctors will use this method (if my post makes any sense at all).

Admittedly my child is given antibiotics at the first sniffle but the antibiotic usage is due to an underlying medical condition. Equally my other child has never had any antibiotics and is in middle primary!

'I hope this post makes some sense as to how doctors will use this method (if my post makes any sense at all).'

It makes total sense - what a fascinating post; it sounds like your son is in good care. Best of luck with his illness.

hiddenhome - there's a fairly decent wiki entry on phage therapy here. I'm not a great expert, but I find it an interesting prospect though it is early in development and there are some potentially similar risks of resistance as with antibiotics.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phage_therapy

Our team (consultant and other medical professionals) did say it wasn't an ideal way to eradicate the bacteria due to potential damage but the other bacteria would have potentially very serious consequences. Kind of rock v hard place scenario.

I must admit part of it was fascinating but it was obviously a distressing time, so I couldn't appreciate the advancement of it at the time.

But it is not a UK issue - the latest drug to become resistant is not used in the UK/US/West in animals and occasionally in human as a drug of last resort. It is routinely used in animals and humans in China where the resistance has been found.

The resistant strain may have been discovered in china but that doesn't mean it's not a uk issue. Bacteria spread globally and the resistance gene is transmitted to other types of bugs as well. When this happens (and the experts say it is when not if) then it will be an issue for everyone worldwide.

"Some of the people that I nurse are on antibiotics approximately every six weeks. This isn't a good thing to do, but people can't accept that elderly people die."

It might have to do not only with age but with the fact that all those antibiotics killed off their beneficial bacteria and now their immune systems are broken.

Also colistin Has been used for over a decade in the UK as routine therapy for patients with cystic fibrosis and is increasingly being used as more and more bacteria become resistant to other antibiotics so don't think it is used only occasionally in the uk

It might have to do not only with age but with the fact that all those antibiotics killed off their beneficial bacteria and now their immune systems are broken.

Could also be due to living conditions.

Maps I linked to previous New scientist talked about this week they are based on five years of prescription data - there are high levels of AB prescription in areas of high deprivation.

Makes sense to me as I was health 30 year old with first baby when I had a winter of endless chest infections - I was in our private rental much more than before and despite our best efforts with heating, de-humidifiers and anti mould/fungi sprays - it was damp and full of mould. We couldn't afford to move.

Once we did move to better housing I was so much better.

Jralli - do you have a link for Colistin resistance. Also can I ask if the bacteria is pseudomonas aeruginosa that is becoming resistant?

My child uses this daily, both nebuliser and via intravenous antibiotic on some occasions, so if there is a strain of bacteria which is becoming resistant to this drug, I would like to know which bacteria it is.

We definitely do need new ABs and it has been prioritised now for the first time in years so rather than panicking lets hope they come up with something.

Of course that won't solve it alone, but use by vets also needs to be looked above shaming older people over it. And the truth is that a lot of other countries are far less strict than the UK with ABs which is harder to address.

LegoRuinedMyFinances from BBC : Chinese scientists identified a new mutation, dubbed the MCR-1 gene, that prevented colistin from killing bacteria. The report in the Lancet Infectious Diseases showed resistance in a fifth of animals tested, 15% of raw meat samples and in 16 patients. ... And the resistance had spread between a range of bacterial strains and species, including E. coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. There is also evidence that it has spread to Laos and Malaysia.

Not completely sure if this is the paper they are referencing: www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(15)00424-7/abstract

Hi yes think that's the right paper. Thanks lostinthewash there was another on Wednesday calling for a global and multi sector action to conserve our antibiotics sustained effective of antimicrobials

YANBU at all!!! It is a really scary prospect that many of the medical advances that have been made over the decades may be threatened by this problem. Pharmacists (and our own common sense) are brilliant sources of information and other ways we can help to make ourselves feel better other than going to our GPs for antibiotics when we have a cold etc. Of course if we need abx we should take them as prescribed but not when our body has an infection that it can fight off by itself. We all need to play our part and not think that our actions won't affect others... And make sure we, and our families, wash our hands properly!!!