ETHICAL, LEGAL, AND SOCIAL ISSUES
The main ethical issue regarding antimicrobials and antimicrobial resistance is drug distribution, the main legal issue is privacy, and the main social issue is patient knowledge. Explore this page to learn more about each subcategory.
THE ETHICS OF ANTIMICROBIALS
The ethical issues surrounding antimicrobials revolve around drug distribution.
The main ethical issue with antimicrobials is the simple fact tthat they are overprescribed. Not only is this wasteful, but usage of antibiotics increases the development of antibiotic resistant organisms and this is bad for everyone. Hence, the ethical dilemma. Losing these medications would be disastrous for society and result in millions of deaths. It is thus of great importance that such a scenario is not allowed to happen, The most important plank in any approach to prevent this is to stop overprescribing them. However, this is easier said than done as health services have been trying to cut down on excessive antimicrobial usage for a long time. However, the problem is now global and new drug resistant strains are emerging and spreading worldwide.
The same can be said for antimicrobial use in the agricultural industry. In order to promote growth and increase yield, many livestock and poultry animals are regularly fed antimicrobials. In fact, 80 percent of antimicrobials produced yearly goes towards food animals. Although companies claim these medications are for disease control, there is no real definition of what constitutes "disease control". Thus, many question the need for antimicrobials in agriculture and the overall impact of feeding such drugs to livestock and poultry animals.
LEGAL ISSUES
The main legal issue regarding antimicrobials is surveillance and privacy.
Surveillance is important to the control and prevention of resistant microorganisms. However, the law is critical to surveillance due to tensions between individual privacy rights and the community's interest in being protected from infectious diseases. Regardless, improving surveillance is a top priority when combating drug resistance as such systems can monitor trends in resistance across the nation and across the globe. Overall, the struggle between surveillance and privacy is a major issue in the fight against antimicrobial resistance.
SOCIAL ISSUES
The misconceptions of patients is the main social issue surrounding drug resistance.
The main misconception is the belief that any disease, infection, or illness can and should be treated with medication, specifically antibiotics. This is particularly true in cases of viral infections. For example, when faced with a sore throat or cold many individuals race to their doctor demanding antibiotics. Since, antibiotics do not fight infections caused by viruses, they have no real benefit. Thus, patient misconceptions about medications is a social issue that affects this topic.