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Article: Antibiotic-Resistant Illnesses on the Rise; Health Experts Cite Long-Term Over-Prescription and Misuse as Culprits
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- January 23, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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Infections that are resistant to even the most powerful
antibiotics are increasing dramatically, public health officials
warned last week, a consequence of the long-standing practice of
over-prescribing the "wonder drugs" that revolutionized 20th-century
medicine.
In a series of articles on infectious diseases and antibiotic
resistance published last week in the Journal of the American
Medical Association, researchers noted that deaths in the United
States from infectious diseases rose 58 percent between 1980 and
1992. While some of the increase is attributable to AIDS and the
aging of the population, an alarming number of deaths apparently
resulted from the inability of once ...