Undermedication is dangerous because this is how the TB bacteria develop resistance to drugs.
Overuse of antibiotics is blamed for much of the rise of resistance to the drugs among bacteria.
Nearly everything modern medicine does to control these invisible killers, further optimizes their resistance to our drugs and combat strategies, and hence their proliferation.
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Yet growing bacterial resistance to existing drugs and novel microbial threats make the urgency which drove the original development of penicillin as vital as ever.
Another project aims to use bacteria to produce superpowerful chemotherapy agents to shrink tumors that have developed resistance to existing drugs such as Bristol-Myers Squibb's Taxol.
"If you want a sea change, you want a new class, " he added, because the cancer cells get smart and develop resistance to the older drugs.
Of particular concern are the fluoroquinolones, a family of widely used human antibiotics that the FDA forbids in seafood in part to prevent bacteria from developing resistance to these important drugs.
As per our recommendations, if anybody in clinical practice encounters a patient with documented resistance to all these drugs or the majority of them, then a different regimen should be designed based on the few medications that are known to be active.
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During the course of treatment, however, they often develop resistance to a whole class of drugs at once a phenomenon known as multidrug resistance, which makes the cancer hard to treat.
Alternately, if you purchase organic meats or those raised without antibiotics, bacteria has not had the exposure to the drugs to develop resistance.
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Resistance to artemisinin-based drugs reaching Africa would be a "massive crisis", she said.
Resistance to the existing flu drugs Relenza and Tamiflu is becoming an increasing problem, largely due to their overuse.
Before resuming treatment, Dr. Gay ordered a test to make sure the baby's virus hadn't developed resistance to any of the drugs.
Three countries - Andorra, Iceland and Malta - had no cases of resistance to first-line drugs, while in the United States, Hong Kong and Cuba, the cases of MDR TB showed a decline.
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Physicians who see patients outside of hospital systems, such as those working in private offices, contribute disproportionately to the spread of antibiotic resistance because they are more likely to prescribe drugs unnecessarily, a first-of-its-kind nationwide study that looked at patterns of antibiotic use and drug-resistant infections has found.
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Several studies suggest substantial resistance here in Mumbai to many drugs in the government's treatment regimen.
They do not understand why, but since the 1950s parasites there have developed a resistance to a succession of malaria drugs.
There are many strains of TB with varying resistance to the dozen or so standard drugs.
To get around the problem, he says doctors may have to develop new dosing regimens for drugs like Avastin to minimize the chances resistance will develop.
These may not be subject to the same resistance problems as targeted drugs that hit tumors directly, he says.
For one thing, the phenomenon of resistance to herbicides, antibiotics, pesticides and chemotherapeutic drugs is well-known and a largely unavoidable concomitant of evolutionary pressure.
For one thing, the phenomenon of resistance to herbicides, antibiotics, pesticides and chemotherapeutic drugs is well-known and a largely unavoidable concomitant of evolutionary pressure, the result of survival of the fittest.
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Patients who stop taking such drugs risk having the virus develop resistance to treatments.
But an increasingly heavy drugs bill, rising consumer expectations and doctors' resistance have combined to start sending medical costs up again by 6-8% a year.
In the absence of any accredited labs, she said, she has urged program doctors to be flexible and change drugs if reports from any lab indicate resistance.
There have been sporadic instances of resistance to oseltamivir -- the generic name for Tamiflu, one of the main drugs used against influenza -- but such cases are still "isolated and infrequent, " he said.
This is especially a problem because drug companies are having a tough time inventing new drugs to replace those that are losing their usefulness because of rising rates of resistance.
Another approach aims to restorethe effectiveness of existing drugs by blocking bacteria's ability to pump antibiotics out, one mechanism of resistance.
Health systems also must be better run so that the drugs are properly administered and followed up, to minimise the risk of the virus developing resistance.
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