Jay,
People always over react when a more moderate response is appropriate and do nothing when a small response will cut off a trend while that trend is still small.
Weeding a garden is a classic example. The time to get rid of weeds is when they are small and tender, not when they are in their full adult, choking splendor in late July or August. The time to have dealt with the misuse of antibiotics was when we started seeing the loose of effectiveness 10-20 years ago. The feeding of antibiotics to cattle and chickens should never have gotten started, let alone allowed to continue all of these years. Yes it would have cost all of us about $1 per pound in the final price, but a small price to pay for the effectiveness of antibiotics. We should have been educated a long time ago that antibiotics do nothing for a cold or flu. Doctors in particular should have known better, but it was easier to give a whining patient what amounted to a viral placebo than take the time to educate people about antibiotics.
I do not think we will see a 'black plague' type of thing. All we need is a return to the pre antibiotics days of the 20's and 30's to spur a huge demand for something to be done. Normal people, not drug addicts, not homosexuals, not the poor, will start dying, in the hospitals of infections easily handled a few years ago with antibiotics. Doctors will be interviewed on TV. Victim's families will say things like 'He was just fine a few days ago...' Then it will register with most people we, not they, have a problem.
When will it happen? I haven't the foggiest. But it is a lot closer than we may think. Nor can I say what the specific trigger will be. It's a lot like looking at a herd of buffalo. You know they will move, perhaps rapidly. But when and how? Don't know. They will though.
Regards,
Jack |
