Wonderdrug

[jayne b-t]

If the new 'wonderdrug' antibiotic doesn't work, is it safe to go into hospital?

[catman]

Nobody can give a guarantee about the risk of catching infections, but there are several lines of defence against infectious diseases.
Antibiotics are one defence, and it is not all bacteria which have become resistant to all known forms of antibiotic. The search for new antibiotic compounds continues, and meanwhile most bacteria have a 'magic bullet' with their name on it. The danger that doctors have pointed out for decades is the misuse of antibiotics that leads to germs building a resistance, eg patients not finishing courses of antibiotics; use of antibiotics to boost muscle growth in farm animals; and IMF aid rules that insist that Third World nations charge patients for medicines - leading to sufferers simply giving up treatment to soon; corruption as antibiotics are sold just to make money; or black-market 'watered-down' antibiotics that are weakened and allow the disease to thrive in the victim and interact with the antibiotic. If somebody had listened 20 years ago, the current situation might have been avoided, as the problems were well-documented by those in the profession.
There are two other lines of defence against infection in hospitals and elsewhere - antiseptics that will kill 'superbugs' no problem if they are lurking; and the practice of 'aseptic' medicine ie keeping everything clean and sterilising everything. We will not return completely to the Dark Ages of medicine if antibiotics fail us. But much of the world might.