I nearly lost a hand and could have lost my life, as 11,000 fellow Americans do each year, when that chance 2007 encounter with MRSA (methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus) landed me on hospital operating room tables, three times. Last week’s Centers for Disease Control report, Antibiotic Resistance Threats in the United States 2013, warns MRSA deaths represent only half the total lives lost annually to 18 bacterial pathogens that have become exceedingly difficult to treat with available drugs. CDC cites abuses in human and animal medicine for this long-developing crisis. Popularly viewed as miracle cures, antibiotics have been [Read more…]