Marti Hoekstra's Reading Response for chapters 10 and 11 of The Antibiotic Paradox

I found chapter 10's discussion of antimicrobial cleaning product use very interesting. Many times when we think of resistance we factor out the element of home and only think about antibiotics in the form of pills and medication. Now that they mention it, it is amazing how many products advertise "antimicrobial!" or "kills __% of germs!" This has seemed to please the consumer causing a variety of products to follow this trend. Some examples I can think of are chlorox wipes, household cleaning sprays/foams and personal hand gels, wipes and even LOTION. Because the public is uneducated about the risks that come along with these products' overuse, overuse can easily occur! Before recent years, these cleaning products concentrated most of their use in hospitals to prevent infection. Community acquired MRSA has immerged besides the hospital acquired making us wonder if this has occurred from antibiotics in the community or does it have something to do with the use of antimicrobial products? It was also interesting that they mention the only situation in which these products should be used heavily is in an immunocompromised patient. Something that as a nurse, if I were working in Oncology, I would have to add this to my list of education to provide my patients.

Chapter 11 makes a valid point that I would like to highlight. Resistance prevalence is evident all across the world, across water and borders. Antibiotic availability depends on the country we are in (whether it be over the counter, Rx only - etc.) Although it may be easy to blame physicians for over-prescribing, or govenmental means in another country for giving out antibiotics like candy it is important to consider ourselves as the MAIN factor of these problems. We are responsible for what we put into our bodies, what cleaning supplies we use in our homes and to what degree and how ademant we are to acquiring medications. If we take responsibility for our actions and share our knowledge with others about resistance only then can we take control of the antibiotic problem that has continued to develop!