IP: Cipro, other antibiotics overuse much more dangerous than anthrax

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> http://www.latimes.com/templates/misc/printstory.jsp?slug=la%2D000082833oct17

Cure May Be Health Hazard
Many doctors bend to pressure from patients who want antibiotics after 
anthrax scares. Misuse could raise the dangers of resistance.
By CHARLES ORNSTEIN
TIMES HEALTH WRITER

October 17 2001

Anthrax anxiety has spawned a massive public health experiment--one that is 
unplanned, uncontrolled and perhaps unstoppable.

Never before have so many healthy people been given private stashes of 
antibiotics to use at their whim.

The trouble, say medical experts, is that indiscriminate prescription of 
Cipro and other powerful antibiotics could prove horribly 
counterproductive. It could ultimately render these last-defense drugs 
helpless against serious bacterial infections, allowing them to flourish 
and spread to others. Even those who don't take Cipro could develop 
infections resistant to it.

But in a nation with powerful faith in the ability of drugs to treat any 
ill, patients are besieging doctors with requests for Cipro and other 
powerful just-in-case antibiotics. Unsolicited e-mails from online 
pharmacies fan their fears.


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