ANTHROP 2U03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Antimicrobial Resistance, Immunodeficiency, Hand Washing

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Anthropology
• Course: ANTHROP 2U03
• Professor: Hendrik Poinar

Document Summary

We have much fewer diseases now that relate to infectious diseases that we have antibiotics for. About a 100 years ago, it was a different story. We"ve discovered new antibiotics to replace the ones that are ineffective. Cycle will keep repeating, discovering something new will then lead to it becoming ineffective again. The 1940"s - 1970s discovered lots of antibiotics. In the last 30 years, there haven"t been any new antibiotics discovered. 700,000 annual deaths worldwide from drug related infections. By 2050, they predict that there will be 10 million deaths. Cost for health care > billion in medical cost in canada alone. In 2050, it might be trillion dollars. On par with the 2008 financial crisis. If you have a major surgery, you"re getting antiobitiscs so that you don"t get a major infections. Without antibiotics, you are very likely to get infected after surgery. You are immunosuppressed, susceptible to infections that you wouldn"t be susceptible to.