While all the issues concerning the advance of microbial resistance look bad, there are many proven solutions to our current conundrum. The first thing that we have to do is survey a network--whether it be on local, national or international levels--with all of our resistance trends so that we know where the resistance is occurring and the nature of the resistance.

Infection control measures comprise the second factor, and it is key in this case that we talk about hand washing.

Learn how to properly wash your hands
Truth or lie? In a 1996 survey, 94 percent of adults said they always wash their hands after using public restrooms. Some cynical scientist decided to study this in September of 1996, and the study was called "Operation Clean Hands." The behaviors of adults were observed in New York's Penn Station, the Atlanta Braves Ballpark, and a New Orleans casino. As it turns out, 94 percent was a lie; in fact, 74 percent of women washed their hands and only 61 percent of men washed their hands.

The current procedure on hand washing is certainly a lot more comprehensive than what we learned in kindergarten. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), this is appropriate hand washing:

Fifteen seconds of vigorous rubbing of hands together until soapy lather appears. Scrub between the fingers, under the fingernails, around the tops and palms of the hands. Rinse under warm running water. Dry the hands with a clean, disposable towel, and turn off the faucet using a towel as a barrier.

You can miss an entire sporting event if everybody went through that process. However this is really what they say is appropriate.

	Thinking Point
	The next time you wash your hands, pay attention to the process you follow. How well does it stack up compared to the CDC guidelines?

For those who live or work in nursing homes, here are the guidelines for nurses when they are passing medications. Nurses are supposed to:

scrub with an approved anti-microbial gel between each patient, scrub before application of an ophthalmic or eye product and do a thorough hand washing every four to five patients, or when in contact with mucous membranes or body fluids of one of the residents.

Write your government official
There are other actions you might take to help protect the public against the rise of resistant microbes. Write your congressional representatives or other government officials. Although in the US, the democrats appear to be taking the lead on this, nonetheless you should let your representative know that you are concerned about the use of antibiotics in animal husbandry and how that affects us.

Buy antibiotic-free meats
Begin buying antibiotic free meats. They are available in many markets now. The good news is that a study I will be discussing that came out of Denmark by Wegener now shows that bans on antibiotics used in animal feed pays off.

Dr. Regal discusses how bans on AGPs have been successful. (2:36 min)

What the agricultural industry might take notice of is that while feed costs went up, according to Wegener, this cost was offset by the money saved from withholding the antibiotics. And as a result of this, Tyson Foods, Purdue Farms and Foster Farms--all big poultry producers and distributors in the United States--are phasing out AGPs in their population.

One final point I want to make in this section is really quite striking. In Wegener’s study out of Denmark, chicken, pig and cattle ranchers used fewer antibiotics in their animals, saw fewer infections, had less occurrences of salmonella, and ultimately less VRE. The vital lesson that needs to be learned from this is that the selective pressure of killing off friendly flora leads to an increase in unfriendly flora such as salmonella. Once again, in covering the waterfront, we drown ourselves.