The World Wakes Superbugs

In the editorial, “The World Wakes Up to the Danger of Superbugs” (2016), the New York Times Editorial Board reports that excessive use of existing drugs and slow research of new drugs is causing people to die of drug resistant infections. The Board uses a serious tone, logos, and diction to support their claim. The Board suggests that overuse of antibiotics by doctors and farmers along with insufficient research to create new antibiotics and vaccines has contributed to the amount of deaths from antibiotic resistant diseases. The Board’s audience consists of those who are concerned about antibiotic resistant disease or about health in general.
The board uses a serious tone to cause people to realize that antibiotic resistant diseases are an
important issue. The editorial starts by listing diseases that could have been cured by antibiotics in the past, such as tuberculosis or malaria, but are now becoming resistant. This helps to create a serious tone because it lists diseases that many people are familiar with. Most people have probably known someone who has had one of these diseases or has at least heard of one of them. An example of using serious tone is, “Increasing the supply of new drugs and vaccines is another challenge. Many companies find it more profitable to produce drugs for cancer and other chronic diseases that patients battle for months or years at a time”. The serious tone is created when the board talks about the challenge of increasing the supply of new drugs and vaccines. Another example of using serious tone is, “These bacteria, viruses and other microbes are responsible for 700,000 deaths a year, according to a 2014 British study”. The use of a statistic creates a serious tone because it shows that there are more deaths from antibiotic resistant disease than people realize.
The board uses logos, which is using logic to persuade, by inserting many statistics in the editorial. Using logos causes people to realize that antibiotic resistant diseases are more common than they seem. An example of when the board applies logos is, “In the United States alone, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at least 23,000 people die annually from drug-resistant infections that could once be easily cured”. Another example of this is, “The Center for Disease Control estimates that at least 30 percent of antibiotic prescriptions in the United States are unnecessary”. The board uses logos by describing the causes of antibiotic resistant diseases, such as overuse of antibiotics by doctors and farmers. They also describe the regulations and educational actions being taken to prevent further misuse of antibiotics. The board also uses logos when they explain that being more serious about practices such as hand washing and sterilizing equipment can reduce the amount of infections in hospitals.
The board uses diction to convey a sense of emergency in the editorial.
This causes people to feel as though something has to be done immediately. The board creates this through the repeated use of words such as “need” and “must”. An example of this is, “Consumers must make sure they and their children are vaccinated, which helps prevent infections in the first place”. Diction also allows the board to create a sense of security. The board ends the editorial with measures that are being taken to prevent future deaths from antibiotic resistant disease. This causes the reader to feel that things are being done and they don’t have to worry about antibiotic resistant disease. Another use of diction is when the board describes the practices currently being used by doctors and farmers. The use of diction makes the reader believe that changes need to be made to current practices, such as feeding animals antibiotics or prescribing antibiotics for common infections, by using words such as “useless”. An example of this is, “Doctors need to be instructed in the dangers of prescribing antibiotics for viral flus and other common infections for which they are largely useless”. The board uses diction to create a sense of security when they write, “Because the indiscriminate use of drugs in animals can destroy the drugs’ effectiveness for humans, the Food and Drug Administration has issued regulations that it says will reduce antibiotic use in
livestock”.
The board uses rhetorical devices to show people the growing danger of antibiotic resistant disease. The board uses a serious tone, logos, and diction to support their claims. The editorial informs their audience of the threat of antibiotic resistant disease, and what is being done to control it.