\n\n“if we\u2019re not very careful now, humanity may backslide into a world where our antibiotics become useless \u2014 and the common infections they used to treat cut our lives short.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Covid-19 pandemic has made that danger worse. According to a new report<\/a> from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), during the first year of the pandemic, the problem of drug resistance only intensified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Drug resistance is what happens<\/a> when we overuse antibiotics in the treatment of humans, animals, or crops. When a new antibiotic is introduced, it can have great, lifesaving results \u2014 for a while. But then the bacteria adapt. Gradually, the antibiotic becomes less effective, and we\u2019re left with diseases we\u2019re less able to treat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even before Covid-19, experts had been warning that we\u2019re approaching a post-antibiotic era<\/a> \u2014 a time when our antibiotics would become largely useless against health problems ranging from tuberculosis to STIs to urinary tract infections. They noted that routine hospital procedures like C-sections and joint replacements could become more dangerous, too, as the risk associated with infection \u2014 especially infections acquired in hospitals<\/a> \u2014 increases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some professionals, especially in hospitals, hadheeded the experts\u2019 warnings, and we\u2019d seen some progress as a result. Take staph infections, for example. A 2019 CDC report noted<\/a> that rates of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) had dropped. And overall, deaths caused by drug resistance had decreased by 18 percent since 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the Covid-19 pandemic has reversed years of hard-won progress. Drug-resistant hospital-related deaths and infections from seven pathogens grew 15 percent from 2019 to 2020, including a 13 percent increase for MRSA infections, which can bedeadly<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One reason for that is that hospitals overprescribed antibiotics, according to the CDC. From March through October 2020, almost 80 percent of Covid-19 patients who were hospitalized were given antibiotics. As a viral illness, Covid-19 isn\u2019t affected by antibiotics, but doctors may have been keen to prescribe them to cure or protect against secondary infections, especially given that hospital stays for Covid-19 can be long and intensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis setback can and must be temporary,\u201d Michael Craig, the director of the CDC\u2019s Antibiotic Resistance Coordination and Strategy Unit, said in a statement<\/a>. \u201cThe best way to avert a pandemic caused by an antimicrobial-resistant pathogen is to identify gaps and invest in prevention to keep our nation safe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Obviously, the last thing we want is for the Covid-19 pandemic to pave the way for a new pandemic caused by some drug-resistant pathogen.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n …<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The good news is that we can absolutely address the problem of drug resistance. In its new report, the CDC calls for doubling down on strategies we know work, like preventing hospital-acquired infections in the first place and training medical professionals on when it is and isn\u2019t appropriate to dole out antibiotics.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n