TITLE:
Antibiotics/antibacterial drug use, their marketing and promotion during the post-antibiotic golden age and their role in emergence of bacterial resistance
AUTHORS:
Godfrey S. Bbosa, Norah Mwebaza, John Odda, David B. Kyegombe, Muhammad Ntale
KEYWORDS:
Post-Antibiotic Golden Age; Irrational Antibiotic Use; Medicines Marketing and Promotion; Internet Access; Antibacterial Resistance
JOURNAL NAME:
Health,
Vol.6 No.5,
February
24,
2014
ABSTRACT: During the post-antibiotic golden age, it has seen a
massive antibiotic/antibacterial production and an increase in irrational use
of these few existing drugs in the medical and veterinary practice, food
industries, tissue cultures, agriculture
and commercial ethanol production globally. The irrational drug use has
been further exacerbated by the increased marketing and promotion of these
drugs by the pharmaceutical companies thus increasing their accessibility in
the public and hence their improper use. The lack of production and
introduction of the newer and effective
antibiotic/antibacterial drugs in clinical practice in the
post-antibiotic golden age has seen an increase in the emergence of the
resistant pathogenic bacterial infections creating a significant problem in the
global health of humankind. The massive productions of the antibiotic/antibacterial
drugs have contributed to the poor disposal of these drugs and hence many of
them are discharged in various water bodies contributing to the environmental
antibiotic/antibacterial drug pollution.
In the environment, these drugs exert pressure on the environmental
bacteria by destroying useful bacteria that are responsible for the recycling
of the organic matter and as well as promoting the selection of the
resistant pathogenic bacteria that can spread in human and animal population thus causing an increase in the observed bacterial
disease burden and hence a significant global public health problem. The resistant bacterial diseases lead to the high cost,
increased occurrence of adverse drug reactions, prolonged hospitalization, the exposure to the second- and
third-line drugs like in MDR-TB and XDR-TB that leads to toxicity and deaths as
well as the increased poor production in agriculture and animal industry and commercial ethanol production.