‘Resistance’ Documentary Sounds the Alarm on Superbugs

A new film featuring Professor Lance Price explores the downfall of antibiotics.

June 9, 2014

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Interaction of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria (MRSA) with a human white cell. (Photo Credit: NIAID)

By Lauren Ingeno

A post-antibiotic era in which common infections could turn deadly: apocalyptic fantasy or imminent reality?

Lance Price, an epidemiologist and professor in the Milken Institute School of Public Health, fears the latter, calling antibiotic resistance an “immense threat.”

Since the first mass production of penicillin in the 1940s, antibiotics have revolutionized modern-day medicine. Before then, a now easily treatable illness such as strep throat could be life threatening. But as antibiotic-resistant germs—called superbugs—continue to multiply, the “miracle drugs” we so heavily depend on may soon lose their power, a 2013 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns.

“We have a dam that’s protecting us from this flood of bacteria—and the dam is antibiotics. Each time one of these types of bacteria become resistant to all of those antibiotics, it’s like water coming over the dam,” Dr. Price said. “So with each new strain of bacteria, more and more water is going to start flowing through.”

Dr. Price is featured as an expert in the new documentary, “Resistance,” presented by UJI Films and Applegate, an organic and natural meats company. Current debates over antibiotic use in human medicine and animal farming take center stage as the documentary offers perspectives from health professionals, government officials, victims of antibiotic-resistant infections and even animal farmers.

The film will be screened for free at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday at E Street Cinema, 555 11th St., NW, Washington, D.C., as part of a nationwide screening tour. Following the screening, filmmaker Michael Graziano, Dr. Price and other experts will participate in a panel discussion. There will also be a showing on Thursday at 10 a.m. at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center.

Dr. Price has been pioneering the use of genomic epidemiology to understand how the misuse of antibiotics in food animals affects public health. Using genetic sequencing, scientists can for the first time trace germs back to their origins.

While people can acquire drug-resistant bacteria in different ways—including overusing antibiotics or taking them when they aren’t necessary—Dr. Price believes the use of antibiotics in livestock is the greatest problem in terms of scale. In fact, around four times as many antibiotics are used in animals than are used in human medicine, he said.

“It’s impossible to really quantify contributions of antibiotic use in humans versus antibiotic use in people,” Dr. Price said. “It all works together to create drug-resistant bacteria, which is then spread among people and can kill.”

Dr. Price’s research focuses on understanding the driving forces for the creation of superbugs, how they spread among people and how they evolve.

In one of his latest studies, Dr. Price is using genetic sequencing to match bacteria in meat to E. coli strains in women with urinary tract infections (UTIs), showing how bacteria can move from farms to humans. The research is still ongoing, but Dr. Price and his research team have already discovered that a single strain of antibiotic-resistant E. coli has become the main cause of bacterial infections in women worldwide over the past decade.

“There is substantial overlap in the kinds of E. coli we find in the food supply and the kind we find in these common infections that can turn deadly,” he said.

Millions of women in the U.S. contract UTIs every year, and they typically view it as nothing more than an annoyance. But with the widespread presence of antibiotic resistance in E. coli, these infections are becoming more difficult to treat. Left untreated, bladder infections can progress to the kidneys and then into the blood, which can turn deadly. 

“We’ve almost always had an antibiotic that worked to treat those infections,” he said. “But now the E. coli is becoming more and more resistant.”

On a more positive note, the techniques that Dr. Price is using to study the infections are the same ones that can be used to improve antibiotics, he noted. Rather than playing the guessing game when diagnosing infections, the DNA-based methods Dr. Price and his team are employing will allow physicians to make more accurate diagnoses and predict what antibiotics the bacteria are susceptible to. 

Dr. Price’s hope is that “Resistance” will be a thought-provoking documentary and will make viewers aware of the value of antibiotics.

“If they walk away saying, ‘Wow, I never thought about how important antibiotics are,’ then I’d feel like this film was a huge success,” Dr. Price said. “I think that is something that we’re missing as a society—really recognizing how much we depend on these drugs and how hard it’s going to be if we lose them.”

Wednesday’s screening of “Resistance” at E Street Cinema is free and open to the public, but space is limited. RSVP at [email protected] to reserve your ticket.