Hugh Hefner’s death certificate has revealed that the 91-year-old former editor of Playboy passed away in part because of a drug-resistant E. coli strand.
The certificate also states respiratory failure, cardiac arrest and septicemia contributed to Hefner’s death.
Public health officials have emphasized the dangers of drug-resistant infections for years now, as increasingly more bacteria strands have become tolerant of man-made antibiotics, including those that lead to STDs and meningitis.
If a doctor can no longer treat an infection with antibiotics, alternative treatments are often too costly or toxic, but often no other treatment paths exist and patients die from infections that could previously be combated with drugs.
Because of the growing crisis, experts have urged doctors to avoid prescribing antibiotics unless they are crucial, as over-prescription strengthens bacteria against the life-saving drug treatments.
