PBN founder Klaus Mitchell discusses antibiotic resistance in this PBN video
Earlier this month Chinese authorities confirmed a case of bubonic plague in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region.
The disease, which caused the ‘Black Death’ pandemic in the 14th century – which killed around 50 million people – is zoonotic, meaning it spreads from animals to humans.
This exclusive Plant Based News looks at the latest outbreak, suggesting while the good news is that the plague can be easily treated nowadays using antibiotics which were introduced in the 1940s, that may not be the case for long – because of antibiotic resistance.
Antibiotic resistance
PBN founder Klaus Mitchell says in the video: “Antibiotic resistance is when bacteria that cause infections become resistant to antibiotic drugs, threatening us with the return of early 20th-century healthcare where infections that we currently view as being trivial become deadly.
“The World Health Organization is calling antibiotic resistance a global crisis, and England’s Chief Medical Officer said it was ‘the greatest threat to our civilization’.”
COVID-19
He adds: “A report published in 2016 shows that roughly one in three antibiotics prescribed to humans by our healthcare system are unnecessary. And this is becoming even worse with COVID-19.
“According to expert Dawn Sievert, since the emergence of COVID-19 data shows an increase in antibiotic use. An estimated 70 percent of patients admitted to hospital received antibiotics despite less than 10 percent of patients having a bacterial infection.”
Animal agriculture
But, says Mitchell, what’s far more concerning is that human prescriptions account for just 20 percent of the antibiotics produced in the world, with the remaining 80 percent going to farmed animals.
“Without antibiotics,” he explains, “the majority of animals that are farmed for meat and dairy would be unable to survive the harsh conditions in which they’re kept for long enough to be profitable.”
A staggering 95 percent of U.K. meat produce comes from factory farms, 99 percent in the U.S, with Mitchell describing antibiotic abuse as ‘the cornerstone of our food system’ – the irony being that the ultimate victim of antibiotic resistance will be humans.
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