Resistance

Resistance offers a critical overview of antibiotics, which can save lives, but also have become less effective over time. As one expert explains, "Antibiotics are basically poisons that kill bacteria and don't kill us." Unfortunately, many infectious diseases have developed resistance to these antimicrobial agents, an evolution that can take anywhere from a few years to several decades after an antibiotic makes its debut. Director Michael Graziano illustrates the ways in which antibiotics lose their effectiveness through overuse in the environment, medicine, and agriculture. One infectious disease specialist starts to cry as he recounts his attempt to help a leukemia patient whose infection proved resistant to antibiotics—with all options exhausted, the young woman died. A former surfer who lost the use of his legs contracted a staph infection from a marina, which caused lesions on his spine. Although antibiotics saved his life, he also believes they made him sick in the first place, ending up in the water supply. Penicillin serves as an example of an antibiotic that has lost potency through overuse—starting during the Vietnam War when so many servicemen and sex workers used it to prevent gonorrhea—and now is no longer a reliable cure. Doctors who over-prescribe penicillin and farmers who add growth hormones to their feed also contribute to the problem. In the 1990s, Denmark stopped using growth hormone promoters with no subsequent ill effects on industry, so there's hope the United States may follow suit. Other speakers here include representatives from pharmaceutical companies, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. A timely cautionary documentary about an ongoing health issue, this is recommended. Aud: C, P. (K. Fennessy)