ARE HUMANS AND ANIMALS RESISTANT TO ANTIBIOTICS?
5) No, it is the organisms themselves that ‘learn’ to become resistant to the drugs used to combat them. WHY THE PRESENT CONCERN ABOUT ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE? 6) In the past, new antibiotics could be introduced, to take the place of those that were losing their effectiveness. But now the alternatives are running out. No genuinely new antibiotics have been developed for over twenty years and no new ones are expected to be available for 5-10 years. 7) However, it could be said that the authorities have been very slow in acting to avoid the trouble that was certainly in store. DID WE HAVE ‘FAIR WARNING’ OF THE DANGERS TO COME? 8) As long ago as 1968 the relevance to human health of (non-typhoid) Salmonellae resistant to antibiotics was reviewed (Anderson, 1968) following the development of multiresistance in the strain of Salmonella which was causing much of the food poisoning at that time. 9) This serious threat to human health was one factor leading to the setting up of the Swann Committ
