Disease

Antibiotic 'Apocalypse' Warning

The rise in drug resistant infections is comparable to the threat of global warming, according to the chief medical officer for England. Bacteria are becoming resistant to current drugs and there are few antibiotics to replace them. Experts say it is a global problem and needs much more attention. Antibiotics have been one of the greatest success stories in medicine. However, bacteria are a rapidly adapting foe which find new ways to evade drugs. MRSA rapidly became one of the most feared words in hospitals wards and there are growing reports of resistance in strains of E. coli, tuberculosis and gonorrhoea. While the full effects of global warming lie some time in the future, the apocalyptic scenario is that when someone needs a new hip in 20 years he might well die from a routine infection because we've run out of antibiotics.

The World Health Organization has warned the world is heading for a "post-antibiotic era" unless action is taken. It paints a future in which "many common infections will no longer have a cure and, once again, kill unabated. Research is not happening quickly enough. "We need resources for surveillance, resources to cope with the problem and to get public information across." The drugs companies have run out of options as all the easy drugs have been made. "We have to be aware that we aren't going to have new wonder drugs coming along because there just aren't any."

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Legionnaires' Disease Outbreak in Melbourne, Australia

Victoria's health department has ordered the testing of cooling towers in the busy Melbourne suburb of Footscray, after a fatal outbreak of legionnaires' disease. A man aged in his 50's died in hospital this morning and four others have been admitted.