I can’t tell you how much this kind of thing freaks me out.
About ten years ago when we first started hearing about antibiotic resistant super bugs I vowed not to take antibiotics unless absolutely necessary. Now that I think about it, when I stopped running to the doctor to beg for antibiotics for every sinus infection, I became healthier. I got through two sinus infections without antibiotics and I haven’t had one since.
Many American physicians today are hesitant to prescribe antibiotics if there isn’t good reason. That’s not the case in China. This is scary, we’re all at risk because of their irresponsibility.
Chinese doctors routinely hand out multiple doses of antibiotics for simple maladies like the sore throats and the country’s farmers excessive dependence on the drugs has tainted the food chain.
Studies in China show a “frightening” increase in antibiotic-resistant bacteria such as staphylococcus aureus bacteria, also know as MRSA . There are warnings that new strains of antibiotic-resistant bugs will spread quickly through international air travel and internation food sourcing.
“We have a lot of data from Chinese hospitals and it shows a very frightening picture of high-level antibiotic resistance,” said Dr Andreas Heddini of the Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control.
“Doctors are daily finding there is nothing they can do, even third and fourth-line antibiotics are not working.
“There is a real risk that globally we will return to a pre-antibiotic era of medicine, where we face a situation where a number of medical treatment options would no longer be there. What happens in China matters for the rest of the world.”
Why, you ask, don’t they just stop prescribing so many antibiotics? Because, they’re commies with nationalized health care.
Public health experts say the rampant over-use of antibiotics in China is primarily caused by China’s under-funded healthcare system where hospitals derive up to half of their operating income from selling drugs. In some cities, such as Chongqing, almost half of all drugs sold are antibiotics.
“In Chinese hospitals our data shows that 60 per cent of in-patients are being prescribed antibiotics compared with the WHO guideline of 30 per cent,” added Professor Xiao who also heads China’s National Antibiotic Resistance Investigation Network.
Not only does socialized medicine harm those living under it, the rest of us are put at risk as well.
Via memeorandum
Hi. I am an American and have lived here in China fro the last 5 years…..before that 5 years in Europe. This is a huge problem, but I would like to tell you that China does not have a nationalized healthcare system. They used to (a sorry excuse for one), but the govt funding has now been cut and the hospitals are for the most part semi private……the building may have been built by the govt, however they function privately. This is part of the reason that antibiotics are over prescribed……they need money! The other is related to Chinese culture.
In this case, socialized medicine would help the situation. The govt here wants to stop the overuse, but find it difficult to regulate in a semi private system (huge system). There are now plans to return to a universal social health system.
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