The discovery of antibiotics nearly a century ago transformed medicine. Infectious diseases that commonly killed became curable. Although life-saving, antibiotics can also have undesirable effects and drug-resistant bacteria are threatening the improvements in life expectancy and health that have been provided by antibiotics. Dr. Jay Butler, co-host of Line One: Your Health Connection, welcomes infectious
disease specialists Drs. Ben Westley and Thaddus Wilkerson for a discussion of antibiotics—the good, the bad, the ugly.
HOST: Jay Butler, MD
GUEST:
- Dr. Thaddus Wilkerson, infectious disease pharmacist, Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium
- Dr. Ben Westley, Infectious Disease Practitioner
LINKS:
- A two minute overview of the emergence and challenge of antibiotic resistant bacteria produced by ReAct (https://www.reactgroup.org/)
- The Harvard Medical School has produced a fascinating time-lapse video showing how antibiotics can further selection of drug-resistant bacteria
- The Pew Charitable Trusts provides a large array of excellent materials on antibiotic resistant bacteria
- Many people think that multi-drug resistant infections are primarily a problem of the elderly and those with debilitating underlying illness. But these infections sometimes strike the young and healthy, as highlighted by Chris Linaman in his experience with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
- Antibiotic resistant bacteria are not just a problem of industrialized nations. Madlen Davies, of the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism has produced this 3-minute video describing the emergence of multi-drug resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae in Malawi
PARTICIPATE:
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LIVE BROADCAST: Wednesday, October 17th, 2018, at 10:00 a.m. AKDT
REPEAT BROADCAST: Wednesday, October 17th, 2018, at 8:00 p.m. AKDT
LINE ONE’S FAVORITE HEALTH AND SCIENCE LINKS:
- This is a good site to start with, if you want to learn how to find reliable health information on the internet
- Mayo Clinic
- Cleveland Clinic
- MedlinePlus
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- HealthyChildren.org
- Denying to the Grave: Why We Ignore Facts That Will Save Us
- American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (ACAAI)
- Science Based Medicine
- Quackwatch
- Carl Sagan’s Baloney Detection Kit and common logical fallacies
- Michael Shermer’s suggestion for Baloney Detection: How to draw boundaries between science and pseudoscience
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