Posted on September 30th, 2008 by Craig Maltby, Editor
If I had a share of pharma stock…
…for every time my family had to go to the doc and get a Zpack prescription for my
kids, I would be another Warren Buffet (even with the current market slide). We’ve got one at home from school today. She sounded like the Creature from the Black Lagoon yesterday, due to a quick onset of sinus infection and bronchitis. But the 5-day Zpack kicks in and she’ll be good as new by tomorrow, I’m sure. Such a drug that gets you back in action so quickly after feeling so miserable has to be appreciated…and leaned on heavily.
It still makes me wonder how the prospect of immune balance–especially within student populations–could make a dent in the worn out routine of going to the doc and getting the Zithromax or Biaxin 2 or 3 times a year.
And I’m guessing every time we pop open a Zpack, we’re helping those crud bugs build up a dash more resistence to these antibiotics. Well, I’ve had two kids sick with the same bug within the past three weeks. My wife and I maintain our immunogen supplement regimen. She’s feeling a bit yucky and is staying home today, too. No doctor visit yet. So far, I’m in the clear.
October 3rd, 2008 at 10:51 am
Absolutely! Antibiotic overuse is a real problem. New antibiotics are constantly in development because bacteria often develop antibiotic resistance. Antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria which cause Tuberculosis have surfaced, and it can only be expected that with more use there will continue to be more antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria.
October 3rd, 2008 at 3:54 pm
Austin: Thanks for the commentary. Yes, it’s a problem. A really scary scenario is now developing in hospitals — the presence of “gram negative” bacteria in patients with compromised immune systems that do not respond to nearly all antibiotics. Here’s a detailed story from the Wall Street Journal:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122281865543792411.html