A friend of mine is celebrating a health victory of sorts—several glorious infection-free months.
Julie contracted leptospirosis—caused by the bacterium Leptospira—while cleaning her backyard bird bath. She's struggled with persistent infections requiring various antibiotics ever since. She even spent two long stints in the hospital.
Despite a multitude of tests, procedures, and specialists, no one seemed to know why she kept getting infections. Recently she was prescribed a daily prophylactic antibiotic. That is, indefinite use of antibiotics that the doctor hopes will prevent further infections.
However, Julie's not sure whether to celebrate or be frustrated by a lifestyle of nonstop antibiotics. "I don't feel like anybody's listening," she told me recently. "I'm asking whether I should be concerned that I'm setting myself up for a superbug infection."
Julie's right to be worried. Experts are increasingly sounding the alarm that antimicrobial overuse is driving the global superbug crisis, according to Epoch Times writer Mary West.
The Lancet has forecast that 39.1 million deaths will be directly caused by antimicrobial resistance between 2025 and 2050...
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