THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF THE ANTIBIOTIC ERA - PART-I - THE PROBLEM- ABUSE OF THE MIRACLE DRUGS

The antibiotic era began in the early 1940s with the clinical use of p enicillin. Subsequent discovery, development, and clinical use of othe r antibiotics resulted in effective therapy against major bacterial pa thogens. These drugs were so effective that bacterial infectious disea ses were considered by many experts to be under complete therapeutic c ontrol. However the scientific community grossly under-estimated the r emarkable genetic plasticity of these organisms and their ability, thr ough mutations and genetic transfer to develop resistance to antibioti cs. Infectious diseases are now the world's major cause of death. The cause of bacterial reemergence as a threat to human health and life is the abuse of the ''miracle drugs.'' The ubiquitous nature of antibiot ics in the human ecosystem foments bacterial resistance and threatens to eliminate antibiotics as effective drugs for human therapeutic use.