(There is a similar article by the same writers about antibiotic use in agriculture.)
Associated Press Writers
OSLO, Norway—Aker University Hospital is a dingy place to heal. The floors
are streaked and scratched. A light layer of dust coats the blood pressure
monitors. A faint stench of urine and bleach wafts from a pile of soiled
bedsheets dropped in a corner.
Look closer, however, at a microscopic level, and this place is pristine.
There is no sign of a dangerous and contagious staph infection that killed
tens of thousands of patients in the most sophisticated hospitals of
Europe, North America and Asia this year, soaring virtually unchecked.
The reason: Norwegians stopped taking so many drugs.
Twenty-five years ago, Norwegians were also losing their lives to this
bacteria. But Norway's public health system fought back with an aggressive
program that made it the most infection-free country in the world. A key
part of that program was cutting back severely on the use of antibiotics.
Now a spate of new studies from around the world prove that Norway's model
can be replicated with extraordinary success, and public health experts are
saying these deaths — 19,000 in the U.S. each year alone, more than from
AIDS — are unnecessary.
"It's a very sad situation that in some places so many are dying from this,
because we have shown here in Norway that Methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) can be controlled, and with not too much
effort," said Jan Hendrik-Binder, Oslo's MRSA medical adviser. "But you
have to take it seriously, you have to give it attention, and you must not
give up."
The World Health Organization says antibiotic resistance is one of the
leading public health threats on the planet. A six-month investigation by
The Associated Press found overuse and misuse of medicines has led to
mutations in once curable diseases like tuberculosis and malaria, making
them harder and in some cases impossible to treat.
Read the full article at the following link:
http://www.usnews.com/mobile/articles_mobile/solution-to-killer-superbug-fou
nd-in-norway
If the link does not work, try a google search using the key words:
Solution to killer superbug MARGIE MASO
