In June of 2017, a group of 200 scientists and medical professionals called on the international community to ratchet up restrictions on the production and use of triclosan and triclocarban – 2 antimicrobial chemicals found in shampoos and cosmetics. They cite “extensive peer-reviewed research” which suggests the ingredients are potentially harmful. [1]
On September 2, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned most antibacterial soaps and body washes currently on store shelves, saying the products pose health risks, and don’t work any better than regular soap. [1]
Many people in the United States hang on to leftover antibiotics and say that if they got sick, they’d use them without going to the doctor, a new study finds.
The findings are so problematic, it’s hard to even know where to begin. However, one of the main concerns is that this practice leads people to take the drugs when they might not need them, which may further the spread of resistance to antibiotics.
Some are disheveled, some are shaggy, and some are barely there. Beards are popular right now, much to many women’s dismay, and while beards sometimes catch soup and crumbs, they’re actually not unhygienic.
Adam Roberts, a clean-shaved microbiologist from University College London, decided to comb through guys’ facial hair to find out if they contain…poop. Not soup, but poop.
For the past several months, I’ve been writing about a superbug that is resistant to all antibiotics, including “last resort” drugs. Experts first found it in China, and believed it would take about a decade to cross over into Europe. However, they were wrong; it only took a few months. It also arrived in Canada, and now it’s here, too.
There’s a vicious presidential campaign going on, while Americans play tug-o-war over transgender bathrooms and other social issues. So maybe you haven’t heard that our antibiotics are failing, and we need to do something about it if we’re to beat future disease.
Source: Nova
Scientists announced recently they’ve developed an antibiotic from a fragment of a protein found in human breast milk, and they believe it could be the solution to drug-resistant superbugs. [1]
Antibiotic resistance threatens to send medicine back to the Dark Ages. Imagine a world in which illnesses that used to be easily treated with antibiotics kill scores of people with impunity. Picture developing an infection after surgery and there is virtually no drug to treat it.
Cancer rates are increasing, and the World Health Organization (WHO) said in 2014 that cancer cases were expected to surge 57% worldwide over the next 20 years. It’s a health crisis in the making, but scientists are warning there could be an even bigger threat to human health: antimicrobial resistance.
Antibiotic resistance is a real and growing threat, with some scientists warning that if we don’t get a handle on the problem, modern medicine could be thrust back to the Dark Ages.
