Antibiotics/antibacterial drug use, their marketing and promotion during the post-antibiotic golden age and their role in emergence of bacterial resistance

Abstract

During the post-antibiotic golden age, it has seen amassive antibiotic/antibacterial production and an increase in irrational useof these few existing drugs in the medical and veterinary practice, foodindustries, tissue cultures, agricultureand commercial ethanol production globally. The irrational drug use hasbeen further exacerbated by the increased marketing and promotion of thesedrugs by the pharmaceutical companies thus increasing their accessibility inthe public and hence their improper use. The lack of production andintroduction of the newer and effectiveantibiotic/antibacterial drugs in clinical practice in thepost-antibiotic golden age has seen an increase in the emergence of theresistant pathogenic bacterial infections creating a significant problem in theglobal health of humankind. The massive productions of the antibiotic/antibacterialdrugs have contributed to the poor disposal of these drugs and hence many ofthem are discharged in various water bodies contributing to the environmentalantibiotic/antibacterial drug pollution.In the environment, these drugs exert pressure on the environmentalbacteria by destroying useful bacteria that are responsible for the recyclingof the organic matter and as well as promoting the selection of theresistant pathogenic bacteria that can spread in human and animal population thus causing an increase in the observed bacterialdisease burden and hence a significant global public health problem. The resistant bacterial diseases lead to the high cost,increased occurrence of adverse drug reactions, prolonged hospitalization, the exposure to the second- andthird-line drugs like in MDR-TB and XDR-TB that leads to toxicity and deaths aswell as the increased poor production in agriculture and animal industry and commercial ethanol production.