What % of antibiotics are inappropriate or unnecessary?
Up to 50%! HALF of ALL antibiotics.
⚠️ OVERUSE EPIDEMIC
▪️Antibiotics dispensed in outpatient pharmacies are enough for 5 out of 6 Americans to take a course per YEAR.
▪️85 – 95% of antibiotics are in the OUTPATIENT setting. 30-50% of these are unnecessary per the CDC. 50% for respiratory infections are unnecessary. Antibiotics for ear infections are unnecessary.
▪️Annually, there are 286 MILLION antibiotic rxs dispensed outpatient and enough for 821 prescriptions per 1,000 people.
⚠️ IMPACT OF SUPERBUGS
▪️ If we stay on this trajectory— an estimated 10 million people will die annually due to drug resistant super bugs.‼️This is 1 person dying every 3 seconds from resistant bacteria.
▪️ Bacteria are always mutating and resisting (via transduction, conjugation + transformation), but we are exponentially ACCELERATING these super bugs through unnatural means.
▪️ Resistant bacteria are outsmarting our current antibiotics. Resistant bacteria + fungi cause an epidemic of at least 2.8 MILLION infections + 35,900 deaths a year.
▪️ There are NO new major classes of antibiotics approved or in the pipeline. When we NEED an antibiotic to work in the future (or today) — will it even work?
⚠️ IMPACT ON MICROBIOME
▪️ Antibiotics kill the bad AND the good bacteria in your body and gut. When the good bacteria are wiped out, the bad guys and fungi take over. 🦠 Dysbiosis occurs. Our gut is our second brain and this dysbiosis impacts SO MUCH of our health. Research shows it can be linked with autoimmunity.
▪️ Even just one rx can impact your gut for 2-4 years. One study shows — even for your life. These short + long term ramifications need to be taken into consideration!
⚠️ YOUR ROLE:
▪️ Educate yourself! Antibiotics are generally not needed for upper respiratory infections + ear infections. And so much more. Studies show antibiotics only shorten duration of ear infection symptoms by ONE day but add in side effects like 💩diarrhea and microbiome depletion.
▪️ Support yourself naturally when possible. There are many ways to boost your immune system holistically and to support your body! 👊