Some of the diseases that we were once able to treat and cure with antibiotics, such as gonorrhea, syphilis, E Coli, and tuberculosis, are all coming back with resistant strains. Over 700,000 people die globally each year due to these drug resistant infections, and, by 2050, an estimated 10 million will die annually if no action is taken. Roughly 25% of antibiotic prescriptions are thought to be unnecessary.

However, we are on the right track. There were 2.7 million more antibiotic prescriptions in 2015 compared to 2016, indicating more conscious prescribing of these vital infection-fighters. However, a group of infectious disease experts, lead by Martin Llewelyn, professor of infectious diseases at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, has recently said that the length of prescription treatment must change. The mantra of “completing the course” when it comes to antibiotics began with Alexander Fleming, who discovered penicillin. Fleming found that the bacteria, when treated with penicillin, would acclimatize to the antibiotic, so he recommended completing the full dose so that new, more dangerous strains were not transmitted.

Experts are now saying that this is a myth and that over-taking antibiotics could be one of the culprits of rising antibiotic resistance. Using recent studies that evaluate shorter drug courses, they have found this to be as effective as longer course treatments, and without the dangerous build-up of bacteria on the skin or other side effects that could lead to other health problems.

While experts are calling for shorter courses, doctors are wary. Many people already do not complete their course of antibiotics, and doctors worry that patients may stop taking the prescribed medicine before they have completely beaten the infection. Instead, a solution would be to find a natural alternative to antibiotics, especially in agriculture. Studies have shown that neem works as an effective antibacterial.

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One major problem in combatting antibiotic resistance is that many people do not understand what antibiotic resistance really is. It has NOTHING to do with your body’s ability to fight bugs, and everything to do with the bugs turning into superbugs, resistant to the medicine that you are taking to fight them off. Antibiotics have been the same for 60 years, allowing many bugs to build resistance to a set number of chemicals. There are two other major causes of this problem: that many antibiotics are overprescribed – around 30% of all prescribed antibiotics have been deemed unnecessary by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and that we give livestock 85% of the antibiotics that we produce. The microbes develop resistance from this unnecessary overuse.

The World Health Organization has said that we will soon be entering a “post-antibiotic era.” Just last month, a woman in Nevada died from an infection that was resistant to all 26 antibiotics available. An estimated 1 in 7 infections treated in the United States are resistant to at least one type of antibiotic.

How can we solve this problem? There is a simple solution: neem. When used as a natural livestock feed, neem acts as an antibiotic, preventing infection while providing the nutrients that animals need to grow, naturally! To save those 10 million people every year, you need to start demanding a change to sustainable, neem-based agriculture, now!

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Antibiotic resistant bacteria, or superbugs, are germs that don’t respond to the drugs designed to kill them and they threaten to return humans to the time when simple infections would likely lead to a painful and torturous death. Today, antibiotic resistant bacteria annually cause more than 2 million illnesses and 23,000 deaths in the United States. But where do most superbugs get their start? See the infographic for the scary answer.

Neem cake is a byproduct of the neem tree that is created after the removal of neem oil from neem fruit. Neem cake has many valued uses because of its unique chemical properties, but one of the most important is its function as a natural antifungal and antiviral livestock feed. Neem could naturally replace the abuse of antibiotics and ultimately create a healthier farm and planet overall.

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