THE TENNESSEAN | A recent study about antibiotic resistance hit close to home for me. It projected that drug-resistant bacteria are developing at a pace that could soon threaten the lives of thousands more surgery patients each year.
This study also revealed that as many as half of infections after surgery are already being caused by pathogens that don’t respond to standard antibiotics.
While the threat of antibiotic resistance may sometimes seem amorphous and removed from our daily lives, research like this helps to crystallize why there is growing urgency to address this issue.
I know all too well the inherent risks involved in any surgical procedure. To think about patients surviving complicated heart bypass or organ transplant surgery only to lose their lives to a subsequent untreatable infection is infuriating and tragic.
Yet, this is the reality today, and it’s only going to get worse until we take collective action as a country and as a global community.
Read more at The Tennessean: https://www.tennessean.com/story/opinion/contributors/2015/11/23/approve-limited-population-antibacterial-drug-pathway/76145622/