As a medical blogger and ex–healthcare researcher I have to spend a certain amount of time most days keeping up with trends in the area of medicine and wellness.

A lot of the time I ignore what I’m reading because of its over-sensationalist content which I think does not really improve anybody’s chance of better health if they are being terrified all the time.

But on this occasion I have been reading about a trend which I think it will be of value to share with my readers.  In this case it is anti-microbial resistance or AMR.   And it could well be a common part of our discussions about health in the years to come.

Anti-microbial resistance (AMR) is also referred to as drug resistance but that is not quite an accurate description in my view.  It could be, perhaps, better explained by saying that certain types of bacteria are developing resistance to antibiotics.

As a side (well actually very relevant) issue this is not just about anti-biotics used by humans but also those used on animals as part of the agricultural process.

So what then is the problem?  Well, according to Margaret Chan, chief of the World Health Organisation (WHO), it could put back medical advances by 80 years because those infections that could once have been fought by anti-biotics will now not be treatable.  This could affect operations such as hip replacements through to an increased risk of tuberculosis.

Not just that – there has been the rise of the super bugs which we covered in a previous blog on MRSA here – https://patienttalk.org/mrsa-infections-are-you-concerned-about-mrsa-in-hospitals-and-the-community-what-is-your-experience-with-mrsa/

So what can be done?  This seems to me the million dollar (plus) question.  And information does seem to be a bit confusing.

One doctor I spoke to a few weeks ago said that it was a question of everyone learning to complete their course of anti-biotics.  On the other hand some have argued that it is our over-prescription of anti-biotics that causes the problem.

Another view holds that this is the very nature of medicine and different products outliving their usefulness if simply part of life.  So maybe we just need a new generation of drugs.

But what may happen is rather more impressive.  The next wave of drugs may go into the DNA of different bacteria and prevent them from becoming resistant to our medications.

Now wouldn’t that be brilliant!