A Global Health Threat With Big Upside
by Doug Casey, Casey Research:
We’re facing a huge, invisible threat to our species…
It already kills at least 23,000 people in the U.S. annually. That’s nearly as many people as those who die in car accidents per year in the U.S.
And this threat is rapidly growing.
One study says it’s poised to become a bigger killer than cancer in the years ahead.
The World Health Organization calls it one of the three greatest threats to human health this decade.
I’m talking about antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Let me explain…
A Primer on Bacteria
We’re all made up of human cells and bacterial cells.
We get our first dose of bacteria as we pass through the birth canal. Then we’re introduced to more through our mother’s milk… and still more as we grow and interact with the world around us.
From early on, these bacteria protect us.
They fight off bad bacteria and help teach our immune system the difference between good and bad. They help feed us, producing vitamins like B3, B6, B12, and K. They also allow us to take advantage of the complex polysaccharides of plants, which we don’t manage well on our own.
But unfortunately, not all bacteria are helpful. Some are harmful and potentially deadly.
That’s where antibiotics come in.
Since the discovery of penicillin in 1928, antibiotics have been our most important medicines to fight these bacteria. They’ve saved millions of people around the world and are one of the main reasons the average life expectancy at birth in the U.S. rose nearly 40% from 1920 to 2000.
But bacteria are able to adapt. And many of the antibiotics we have to treat infections are less effective today because bacteria have become resistant to them.
