Superbugs could cast the world back into the dark ages David Cameron says

The Prime Minister calls for united action amid fears manageable illnesses like pneumonia and tuberculosis could kill huge numbers

David Cameron is to announce an independent review to identify why the drugs market is not producing new products

The world could be "cast back into the dark ages of medicine" where people die from treatable infections because deadly bacteria are becoming resistant to antibiotics, David Cameron has warned.

The Prime Minister has called for governments and drug companies around the world to work together to "accelerate" the discovery of a new generation of antibiotics.

His intervention comes amid fears in the medical profession that manageable illnesses like pneumonia and tuberculosis could kill huge numbers of people like they did early in the twentieth century.

About 25,000 people die annually across Europe because of infections that are resistant to antibiotic drugs, Mr Cameron said.

Mr Cameron is to announce an independent review led by Jim O’Neill, the economist, to identify why the international market has failed to bring forward new drugs.

The Prime Minister wants to set out a plan for encouraging and accelerating the discovery and development of a new generation of powerful drugs.

GPs could also be told to stop prescribing antibiotics when they are not needed.

“For many of us, we only know a world where infections or sicknesses can be quickly remedied by a visit to the doctor and a course of antibiotics," Mr Cameron said.

“This great British discovery has kept our families safe for decades, while saving billions of lives around the world.

“But that protection is at risk as never before.

“Resistance to antibiotics is now a very real and worrying threat, as bacteria mutates to become immune to its effect."

Overuse of antibiotics for minor infections has resulted in bacteria becoming resistant to medicines.

Drug companies now invest less money in new antibiotics because they cost so much to develop.

Patents for many antibiotics have expired, leading more companies to join the market.

It means the drug firms are making smaller profits and investing less in vital cures.

Mr Cameron said: “With some 25,000 people a year already dying from infections resistant to anti-biotic drugs in Europe alone, this is not some distant threat but something happening right now.

“If we fail to act, we are looking at an almost unthinkable scenario where antibiotics no longer work and we are cast back into the dark ages of medicine where treatable infections and injuries will kill once again.

“That simply cannot be allowed to happened and I want to see a stronger, more coherent global response, with nations, business and the world of science working together to up our game in the field of antibiotics."

Mr Cameron held discussions with world leaders about the issue last month at a meeting of the G7.

The lack of new drugs which are capable of fighting bacteria has been described by the World Health Organisation as one of the most significant global risks facing modern medicine.

Without urgent action the world is heading for a post-antibiotic era, experts have warned.

Mr O’Neills review will focus on the development, use and regulatory environment around antibiotics.

It will explore how to make investment in new antibiotics more attractive to pharmaceutical companies and other funding bodies.

GPs could also be told to stop giving patients antibiotics when they demand them for non-bacterial illnesses like the common cold.

Mr Cameron also wants to Increase cooperation and support for action by the international community, including much closer working with low and middle income countries.

By Peter Dominiczak, Assistant Political Editor

The Telegraph, 1st of July 2014

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Should we attack our dark angel H pylori The concomitant role of H pylori in Sjogrens syndrome

Writing my thesis hasnt been easy when there is so much to do. At home a 2-year old that is a hurricane, running my tiny science serious games business is also mandatory, fulfilling my role as the Midlands Ambassador for PARSUK whilst trying to find a job with the scarce seconds I have left to relax, complicates everything even further. 

This very busy agenda has made me aware of how difficult it is to update the blog, and if I do it its because of my passion for science communication. I could not leave unfinished my Sjogrens syndrome posts on unveiling the concomitant role of Helicobacter pylori in triggering this autoimmune disease. Especially when yet another friend of mine, a woman this time, came to me saying that she has been recently diagnosed with Sjogrens and she actually had a pylori infection prior to the actual diagnosis.

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Literature says that a genetically susceptible individual can develop an autoimmune disease such as Sjogrens when the environment conspires to bend and break him. H. pylori being the fierce survivalist we all know remains untouched and no agents can actually get us rid of the bacteria that easy. Tell me about antibiotics, this bug is pretty hardcore hiding and masking its presence. You can very well undergo three courses of broad spectrum antibiotics, most of the times you are just flushing out your commensals and endangering your immune system. And by all means please do not think that because you have an autoimmune disease you have a reinforced immune system working over hours. All you have is a disturbed immune system so rage-drunk a dog it cannot recognise the master hence going bite-happy.

H. pylori is the mail man that really drives our immune systems dog crazy. Hasni et al (2012) talks about findings linking pylori with a deficiency of platelets in the blood [1]. But the most intriguing thing is how does pylori work in repressing our system and surviving such complex and adaptive defenses for longer than 58 000 years ago in human ancestors? Something somehow symbiotic has got to be at stake here, as suggested in [1].

Symbiotic or Amphibiotic?

Could the answer be that whenever we try and treat pylori we switch on a bacterial defense protocol that eventually will lead to unbalanced autoimmune responses? Hasni et al (2012) states that epidemiological data suggest an increase in asthma and autoimmune diseases in populations wherein H. pylori infection is aggressively treated and being eradicated [1].

Point 1: We get to a point where trying to eradicate a bacteria that has been with us for so long and known to cause harm might trigger an immune system imbalance.

Point 2: However, eradication of pylori is not associated to an increase of indigestion in patients with Sjogrens syndrome.

Point 3: Some studies suggest that H. pylori has a protective role in our human biology.

Could it be that we are facing an axiom indicating that H. pylori is likely to be an agent that has a low profile role in our human biology through an amphibiotic relationship (symbiotic or parasitic depending on the context of gastric equilibrium) with us humans?

[2] talks about H. pylori slowly and progressively disappearing from humans gastric mucosal tissue in the industrialised populations, and with it so are gastric cancer rates falling. What is this dark angel responsible for? Can pylori actually protect us? I dont really think so!

My personal opinion is that as expected H. pylori is terrible for us. But because we are still incapable of getting rid of it that easy it is better to maintain it dormant (reducing stress, changing our diets, etc) and then when really necessary apply a strong, specific and effective pylori treatment. That is in my opinion better than to try and err time and time again with Amoxicillin and Metronidazole that flush away the good guys too. The moment the bacterium recognises it is under attack it will start a process of masking and counterattacking that might as well be responsible for the immune system self/nol-self conflict that characterises Sjogrens syndrome.

Lets explore that in the coming article to be posted as early as January 2016.

[1] Hasni, S. A. (2012. "Role of Helicobacter pylori infection in autoimmune diseases". Curr Opin Rheumatol, 24(4), pp. 429-434.

[2] Blaser, M. J. (???). "Pathogenicity and symbiosis: human gastric colonization by Helicobacter pylori as model system of amphibiosis". nDepartment of medicine and microbiology, NYU School of Mecicine, New York, NY.

Image taken from [2]

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