A nonprofit research group called Extending the Cure has published a series of maps looking at the major drivers of bacterial resistance to antibiotics. They demonstrated a troubling growth in the use of some antibiotic classes, and also a more surprising result.
The states with the highest levels of antibiotic overuse are in the Southeastern United States and along the Appalachians. These states that map to the greatest antibiotic use are also the same states that have the worst health status in the U.S., including the greatest incidence of obesity, asthma, heart disease, heart attack, diabetes and stroke.
Wired Magazine reports:
“... [W]hat if antibiotics cause these other health effects? That lines up with the work of Martin Blaser of New York University, who has proposed that taking antibiotics permanently kills off beneficial bacteria in the gut -- and might therefore be responsible for changes in nutrient absorption and for the rise in obesity and diabetes.”