Posted by David Hyman:
Antibiotic Resistance II
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_08_09-2009_08_15.shtml#1250090136
Today's Wall Street Journal [1]has a nice short piece juxtaposing the
reaction to swine flu and to antibiotic resistance. It begins as
follows:
In March of this year an epidemic of H1N1 influenza virus,
otherwise known as swine flu, began in Mexico. It spread to the
United States within weeks and has since affected over 100
countries. Between the start of the outbreak and the end of July, a
total of 1,154 people worldwide had died of the virus, about
one-third of them in the U.S.
The World Health Organization and other public-health agencies have
responded to the epidemic with appropriate urgency. International
organizations have disseminated information and guidelines and
coordinated with public authorities across the globe to ensure an
effective response. The pharmaceutical industry is developing
antiviral agents and vaccines and producing them on a mass scale.
The U.S. also has responded rapidly and forcefully. Just two weeks
after the report of the first case on American soil, President
Barack Obama asked Congress to allocate $1.5 billion to fight the
virus.
Compare this response to the scant media and political attention
that have been given to several silent but no less deadly outbreaks
of disease in recent years caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Most such outbreaks are treated as the poor stepsisters of pandemic
influenza, even while they have killed far more people than swine
flu over the same period.
Per my previous post, [2]I've got a new article on the problem of
antimicrobial resistance, which is currently out at the law reviews.
One of them rejected it in 5 hours, which is a new record for me. My
coauthor and I are debating whether this is an example of market
efficiency, rational ignorance, or satisficing.
The previous post was headed "Only Two Things Scare Me." Most
commentators got the[3] reference to Austin Powers, but several
inquired what the other thing was. I will reveal that after the
article is accepted.
References
1.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204251404574342920287470660.html
2. http://ssrn.com/abstract=1436154
3. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118655/quotes
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