Antibiotic misuse a factor in SARS epidemic

As if the SARS epidemic wasn’t frightening enough, one expert on infectious disease and geographic medicine at the University at Buffalo says the world can expect more SARS-like outbreaks in the near future

"There's going to be another SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) sometime; there's no doubt about it," stated Richard V. Lee, M.D., professor of medicine in the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and an adjunct professor of anthropology.

One reason for the gloomy outlook is that the continued overuse and misuse of antibiotics which creates drug-resistant viral strains and of antiseptics, which could kill "good germs" that aid the body -- in digestion, for example.

"There are places in the world that seem to be a Pandora's box for certain kinds of infectious disease," said Dr. Lee, who studies the health status of geographically isolated human populations. "The way people live and interact with their environment sets the stage for letting these viruses out of their box."

He called the spread of SARS a classic example of how humans provide viruses -- in this case, the coronavirus -- with the opportunity to evolve into harmful human disease. Often, the mutation or evolution is a response to contact with antibiotics. "Germs are smart and they do evolve,” he warned.

"Humans can break a virus out of its Pandora box by moving the geography of the germ, or a virus can break out by switching to another species," Lee explained. "When we do things to a germ's environment we set the stage for the germs to do something to us. The fact that germs become resistant should not surprise anyone," he concluded. "They're in a constant state of guerilla warfare."

SOURCE: Media Advisory, University at Buffalo. August 21, 2003.