Antibiotic Resistant Catastrophe

Antimicrobial resistant has been called one of the world's most pressing public health problems. Every time a person takes antibiotics, sensitive bacteria are killed, but resistant ones may be left to grow stronger and multiply. Although antibiotics can help treat bacterial infections, a possible side effect is that they can strengthen certain bacterial strains. Antibiotics are supposed to be used for bacterial infections, but are wrongly being used for both viral and bacterial infections. When we use antibiotics on viral infections, deadly bacteria multiplies and becomes stronger. We can fix this problem by using antibiotics for bacterial infections only.

Antibiotic resistance is becoming a more prevalent issue. This is a growing dilemma because, not only do patients have the potential to develop resistance, but they also can transmit the resistant bacteria to others (McKellar, 2014). Additionally, it is estimated that over one-third of all antibiotics prescribed to patients are unnecessary (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2016). Overutilization of antibiotics is a growing problem due to some patients’ inappropriate demands for antibiotics or misdiagnoses by prescribers, however, underutilization of antibiotics can be just as problematic. Physicians are trained to use good antimicrobial stewardship when prescribing antibiotics; only giving them to patients who truly do have a bacterial infection. This becomes an issue when providers are too cautious and do not prescribe antibiotics in an attempt not to contribute to antibiotic resistance. Unfortunately, this caution could have a detrimental effect on the health of patients who actually need the antibiotics. To combat this issue, we must find a balance between good antimicrobial stewardship to minimize resistance while also taking underutilization into consideration. We, as pharmacists, are at a unique position between the physician and

Antibiotics-resistant organisms have become one of the most serious threats to public health, infecting over two million people and killing approximately 23,000 people annually.1 According to the CDC, “total inappropriate antibiotic use,” such as prescribing unnecessary antibiotics or giving the wrong dose or duration, makes up to 50% of all outpatient antibiotic use,2,3 and in 2009, the United States spent $10.7 billion on antibiotics, indicating that there is a lot of potential money to save.4

With all of our modern advances, it seems somewhat strange that chronic health problems have become so commonplace. When antibiotics were discovered, they predicted the end of disease. Instead, we now have a world full of frightening antibiotic resistant infections.

Antibiotic resistance has emerged as one of the greatest public health concerns of the 21st century. Nearly every type of bacteria has become stronger and less responsive to antibiotic treatment. This can eventually make it impossible to treat certain infections, leading to serious disability or death. The increasing prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections can be attributed to overuse and over prescription. The uses of antibiotics in livestock are increasing resistance for animals and humans.

Another crucial element to consider is the emergence of bacterial strains resistant to antibiotics,given the widespread use of these drugs as a prophylactic or a therapeutic regimen.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), describes antibiotic resistance is the ability of bacteria or other microbes to resist the effects of antibiotic treatment. () So instead of being destroyed by the medications, the bacteria survives and continues to reproduce, resultant in new communicable diseases that even more difficult to treat.

The use of the healthcare system as a whole is largely determined by the cost incurred by the patient, as well as insurance companies within the healthcare system. As for combating the growth of antibiotic resistance, it might be beneficial to increase the cost of antibiotics so that they are used only when clinically appropriate. This, however, would lead to a decrease in access to patients who might actually need these forms of treatment and who are unable to afford them. Additionally, increasing the cost of treatment options may cause there to be a delay or abandonment of therapy. While neither of these options may be ideal to patients, and even the healthcare system as a whole, the consideration of their use may aid in lowering the prevalence of antibiotic resistance.

To decrease chances of antibiotic resistance occurring, antibiotics need to be used only when prescribed by a doctor in the correct dosage amounts. Antibiotics should only be used for when treating bacterial infections. Small illnesses such as colds and viruses do not require antibiotics, as this can lead to them being ineffective later on, when they are actually required. The immune system should be able to fight these minor bacterial infections without the use of antibiotics. It is also essential to make sure that once a course of antibiotics has been started, it is finished. This is so that the bacteria get less of a chance to form a resistance, because the antibiotics are being used in the correct way. If doctors could depend on another way of curing diseases other than resorting to taking antibiotics, then antibiotic resistance would not be such big of an issue, because there would be other ways to treat the infection. This is why research is also currently being conducted to both prevent antibiotic resistance from occurring, and treatment options once it has

Overtime, antibiotics have been favorable as well as negligent to society. Antibiotic usage is helpful to society because it kills and fights off bacteria in both humans and animals. With an increase in antibiotic usage, these bacteria have become resistant to certain drugs which reduce the chance of the bacteria being killed off and result in bacteria multiplying, causing increased harm to the infected. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2013), each year in the United States at least 2 million people become infected with bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics and at least 23,000 people die each year as a result to these infections. Although multiple bacteria are antibiotic resistant, and those numbers will continue to rise, antibiotics should remain a staple in the treatment of diseases, as opposed to abandoning their use which will cause an increase in the prevalence of bacterial infections.

Supporting Data:Over the past century of antibiotic discovery and development, few parallel and independent lines of discovery have been fruitful. The development of strategies to prevent the evolution of resistance strains of microbes has been a top priority. In clinical practice, several measures that have been tested to reduce the incidence of resistance development, including

For many years people have wondered why the antibiotics that are used so commonly nowadays are not as effective as they once were. Just like organisms evolve throughout time, resistance to certain things can also evolve. This resistance however is not something that happens naturally but rather is a man-made process which was caused via the misuse, overuse, and/or underuse of antibiotics (Davies 2010). The author Davies explains that there is no better example of the Darwinian notions of selection and survival than the spread of antibiotic resistance and how the bacteria have evolved with traits that make them that way. The more people use antibiotics, especially when not necessary, the higher the chance of bacteria in the body growing resistant to those antibiotics. Major problems have arisen such as cells becoming resistant to antibiotics because its selection pressure is reduced or eliminated. This means that one must counteract this by continually increasing the antibiotic concentration in proportion to the increased resistance (Rosenthal and Elowitz 2012).

Take for example MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), a S. aureus strain that was discovered in 1961 to be resistant to the antibiotic methicillin. Webmd indicates that MRSA has now grown its resistance from methicillin to “amoxicillin, penicillin, oxacillin and many other common antibiotics” (MRSA). This increase in resistance of a methicillin-resistant strain of S. aureus can be attributed to the increasing use and overuse of antibiotics, not only in the doctor’s office but also in agriculture. MRSA is only one of many antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria. New resistant strains are evolving rapidly. According to Dr. Ed Warren, “there are high levels of antibiotic resistance in bacteria causing common infections (e.g. urinary tract infections, pneumonia, bloodstream infections) in all regions of the world” (21).

According the World Health Organization (WHO), antibiotic resistance is one of the world’s greatest health threats to date (Haddox, 2013). In the article, The Health Threat of Antibiotic Resistance, Gail Haddox (2013) discusses the danger antibiotic resistance poses in today’s society and strategies to prevent the expansion of antibiotic resistance. In Europe alone, an estimated 25,000 deaths have been attributed to multi-resistant infections (Haddox, 2013). Common infections are now harder to treat due to the increased resistance to antibiotics across the world, in fact some are becoming untreatable. Antibiotics should be treated like oil, a non-renewable resource (Haddox, 2013).

Antibiotics are widely used drugs in the day – to – day medical treatments of the 20th century. Diseases that were once almost threatening are now cured sparingly easily by means of antibiotics. For one thing, if antibiotics are used in right doses they serve as life – saving tools, on the other hand over use of antibiotics is life threatening. Antibiotics were particularly used for treating the bacterial infections but, in modern day medical sciences antibiotics have become the most commonly prescribed drugs for both bacterial and viral diseases/ infections. For the reason that, over use of antibiotics is causing the common bacteria to gain resistance against the medicines. As a result of this, antibiotics are not performing as they are intended to use (Mike Stobbe, 2013). Consumption of antibiotics in large quantities has proven to cause severe health problems like, obesity, type 1 diabetes, inflammatory bowel diseases, allergies certain hormonal production and asthma.