Antimicrobial Awareness - Guest Post

November brings us Antimicrobial Awareness Week, and to bring help bring this topic to the forefront, we have the following guest blog from Dr. Terry Wuerz, who works in infection prevention & control at St. Boniface Hospital. 

Manitobans, like most of the world’s population, are currently in the throes of the deadliest, and most disruptive pandemic infectious disease in 100 years. Covid-19, for better or worse, has changed life as we know it, and is not done with the human race yet. While society and medicine have learned much in the last 10 months about how to prevent the infection and treat the more severe forms of the disease when they occur, if there is an optimal approach to public health in the setting of this pandemic, we have yet to find it.

On the plus side, the pandemic gives us the opportunity to reflect and prepare for other serious infectious disease scourges which may be heading our way in the future. One such pandemic, which has been close to 100 years in the making, is the increasingly widespread problem of antibiotic resistance among common bacteria that infect humans.

Human beings are no strangers to bacteria, which colonize and are a healthy part of our skin, mouth, and gastrointestinal tract. Occasionally, bacteria can also cause infections, when the body’s normal defense mechanisms break down.

Antibiotic resistance is what happens when bacteria causing wound infections after surgery, strep throat, or urinary tract infections no longer respond to the antibiotics we use to cure these diseases. Infections caused by bacteria resistant to antibiotics are more difficult to treat. They may make us sicker than non-resistant bacteria. It happens when the bacteria on our bodies were exposed to these very antibiotics. Bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics can also be spread from person-to-person. This means that when there is more antibiotic resistance in the community it puts us all at risk. Like the virus that causes Covid-19, antibiotic resistant bacteria are a really important public health issue!

The good news is that unlike the current pandemic, the pandemic of antibiotic resistance is moving slowly and we can act now to help prevent it’s spread. Many infections that cause sinusitis, runny nose, or even earache are caused by viruses which are not treated with antibiotics.

Here are some things that you can do to help prevent the spread of antibiotic resistance:

• If you think you have a bacterial infection, discuss it with a healthcare provider you trust. Don’t be surprised if you find out the infection is likely due to a virus - sometimes no antibiotic is the best prescription!
• Never share or use leftover antibiotics.
• Prevent infections by regularly washing hands, preparing food hygienically, avoiding close contact with sick people, practicing safer sex, and keeping your vaccinations up to date.
• Prepare food hygienically and choose foods that have been produced without the use of antibiotics for growth promotion or disease prevention in healthy animals.
• Talk about this issue with your friends, and family! Many people are not knowledgeable about the difference between infections due to bacteria and viruses. 

Here is some further information from the Manitoba Institute for Patient Safety and Canadian Patient Safety Institute, if you would like to explore this issue further.