Antibiotics World leaders, civil society and global health researchers will convene at the UN General Assembly for arguably the most important meeting on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) this decade (Sep 2024)

[Michael Harrop]

https://theconversation.com/at-the-un-world-leaders-are-negotiating-the-biggest-health-issue-youve-never-heard-of-238488

Yet another symptom of our dystopia. The original title reads "World leaders are negotiating the biggest health issue you’ve never heard of", which is a little silly given that there has been constant coverage of this in the media for many years. Resistance gets all the attention, while collateral damage largely gets ignored. This despite the scientific evidence showing that resistance can be solved with FMT, yet collateral damage may not be, and if it can it will be much harder. https://humanmicrobiome.info/antibiotics/

While antibiotic resistance gets all the attention, the damage being done to our host-native microbiomes is arguably as big a threat as climate change, as the damage compounds over generations, and once it's gone you can't get it back. (Apr 2019)

Collateral damage is very likely fueling or causing the massive chronic disease crisis. And suppose you ignore all the suffering and societal chaos that comes from the vast majority of people being poorly functioning and poorly developed. In that case, this paper also shows that the economic impacts are massive as well:

ADHD costs society hundreds of billions of dollars each year (2021) The World Federation of ADHD International Consensus Statement: 208 Evidence-based Conclusions about the Disorder

This is what there should be UN conferences about. Yet it's completely ignored in favor of a relatively less impactful issue. And it's being left up to a single disabled patient to take it on. And absurdly, if people who are only/primarily concerned about AMR also emphasized the collateral damage aspect, that would boost their effort by making people more concerned about antibiotic overuse. So what's happening is completely nonsensical.

Additionally, despite the AMR issue being widely covered in the media, it appears that the medical system has done little to nothing to reduce the overuse of antibiotics. So what are you going to do at the UN? Advocate for laws that punish doctors for prescribing unnecessary antibiotics?

AMR is a complex global challenge that — like climate change — no one country can deal with alone. AMR occurs when the bacteria and other microbes that cause infections like pneumonia, sepsis or tuberculosis gain the ability to resist treatment by antibiotics or other antimicrobial medicines. These drug-resistant microbes are sometimes called “superbugs.”

This natural process has been accelerated by inappropriate use of antimicrobials and now contributes to about five million deaths annually, increasingly threatening animal health, food security and national economies.

As with climate change, low- and middle- income countries are in an especially precarious position, facing a triple burden of lack of access to quality-assured antimicrobials, a higher burden of AMR and fewer resources to effectively respond to this emerging threat.

Also like climate change, AMR threatens human health, animal health, food security and economic well-being, requiring a “One Health” approach and co-ordination across ministries of finance, health, agriculture and more.

Click to shrink...

 

[Michael Harrop]

The author's post on Twitter about it: https://x.com/MathieuJPP/status/1835662776133447741. I asked him for his thoughts on this comparison and criticism.

A week later, I've received no response https://x.com/MichaelJHarrop1/status/1835838154542289184.
Very typical. So many people exhibit irrational behavior and don't even bother defending it. These are the world leaders and "top experts" that our entire race and planet are depending on.