Regulations Against Antibiotics

Scientists have to keep up with the bacteria’s mutations, and it may require them making a new antibiotic for each one.

When non-resistant bacteria are exposed to an antibiotic, most of them die. But due to the increase of mutations some of the bacteria are becoming resistance to the antibiotic. The bacteria are all subject to natural selection. Natural selection is as simple as saying that the bacteria that have not developed a mutation or resistance that helps them to survive die. The ones that do, survive and pass on the mutation to the next generation. This means that we are constantly having to adapt our antibiotics because so much of the mutation is getting passed along. The flu vaccination is a good example of how mutations are carried over and how the vaccine had to be changed every year to fight the ever changing virus. Some strains

Throughout my life, adults have insisted the use of antibiotics to fight against the most inconsequential illnesses, whether it’s the cold or the flu. However, neither illness is due to invasion of bacteria. This misuse can lead to antibiotic resistance, also known as antimicrobial resistance(AMR), currently one of the central issues facing the public health system. While the process for antibiotic resistance occurs naturally through the process of adaptation, the mismanagement of antibiotic resources has accelerated the rate at which the bacteria adapt. The occurrence of this misinformation isn’t limited to a few adults: even some of my peers suggest taking antibiotics when faced with the flu. This leads to asking whether AMR is truly a problem and are present regulations enough to combat the issue.

Resistance among bacteria to current antibiotics may cause a new pre-antibiotic era, where common bacterial infections become as lethal as before the invention of the first antibiotic penicillin. With resistance on the rise, ‘simple’ surgery, cancer treatment and organ transplantation may become impossible.[4] Despite this very big and real threat[1], big pharmaceutical companies have abandoned or decreased their efforts to develop new antibiotics, while the demand for new and broad –and small– spectrum antibiotics is increasing.[2] [3] In this paper I will give an outline of the main factors why big pharmaceutical companies are no longer developing new antibiotics and I will attempt to pose possible solutions –call it Utopian solutions– that may turn the tide before it is too late.

in their tracks -- every year, 2 million Americans become infected with bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics http://www.care2.com/greenliving/antibiotic-resistance-and-the-rise-of-the-superbug.html

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.

In doing research for an example of natural selection, I came across antibiotic resistant bacteria. This has become one of the biggest threats to the healthcare community and Center for Disease Control. Through the use of antibiotics in treatments that are not necessarily bacterial infections, as well as the over use and misuse of antibiotics, bacteria have evolved in ways making the antibiotics used against them useless. If a bacteria manages to survive through a dose of an antibiotic, they are capable of mutating and can transfer their DNA to other bacteria. The new bacteria multiply quickly and spread to other parts of your body or outside of your body to a new host. Once the bacteria have mutated and its DNA has been transferred to

This video provided a stark look at a serious problem that faces us on the disease front, and it also lent a glimpse into a real possibility that looms over mankind: being thrust back to the time when we were powerless to stop bacterial infections. Scientific research may be our best hope to find new antibiotics capable of warding off pathogenic bacteria for a number of decades, until once again, they become resistant. Or perhaps, as in the case presented in the video of Fleming’s initial discovery of antibiotics (Rx for Survival, 2005), chance will favor us and someone will stumble upon a new

The overconsumption of antibiotics is a big contribution to drug resistance and is why users should know what happens with the repeated use of these drugs. Even though some bacterial mutation occurs naturally, human use of antibacterial is the cause of higher-levels of resistance (Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics 2014). Bacteria mutate either by genetic mutation or by receiving the defensive agent. During an infection bacteria multiply naturally within the body and when exposed to antibiotics, bacteria have an opportunity to adapt to the drug (Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics 2014). During this period of

Antibiotic resistance is considered one of the largest threats to the health of people today around the world. It renders normal antibiotics almost useless in curing some illnesses, leaving people with no form of treatment. This resistance develops through a process similar to natural selection. In this way Charles Darwin’s famous Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection can be seen as a form of evidence for antibiotic resistance occurring. Currently, there are studies taking place into stopping antibiotic resistance once it has occurred. As well as research into other forms of medicine instead of using antibiotics. Awareness is also being raised about ways to prevent antibiotic resistance from occurring in the first place. These three main

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.

    These are many killers that damage generations, but there is one tiny thing that has caused countless deaths and injuries throughout history -- Superbugs. It caused 700,000 deaths every year, and it was estimated to kill 10 million lives each year by 2050, which would cost over 100 trillion dollars per year and a worldwide economic output reduction of 2% to 3.5%, etc.(Walsh,para2) Surprisingly, superbugs are caused by nothing else but overusing “life-saver”: antibiotics. Thus, we must significantly limit the use of antibiotics in medicine and agriculture in order to stop the creation of deadly, drug-resistant “Superbugs.”

The continual chess game that we play against nature, she seems to outmaneuver us with every move that we make, regardless of our increasing amount of resources and knowledge. Dr. Lori Tishler of Harvard Medical School says on the school’s published web articles that drug-resistant bacteria sicken more than 2 million people in America each year and account for 23,00 deaths. People are still getting sick and dying all over the world, and when one microbial threat is neutralized, another drug-resistant strain is recognized. Here are some examples out of Dr. Kimberly Thompson’s book, Overkill: in

The root of this problem lies in what Charles Darwin called the “survival of the fittest” in which organisms eventually adapt and evolve in response to their environment and its impending threats in order to survive. Bacteria is now doing this in response to antibiotics, which are purposed to kill bacteria so as to eliminate infections and diseases. However, now more and more bacteria are evolving to form antibiotic-resistant strains that there are no or very expensive antibiotics or treatments for yet, even if they were once easily treated diseases. Often this is a result of overuse or improper use of antibiotics by both medical professionals and patients. Overuse, such as attempting to use antibiotics for infections that do not warrant them, such as the common cold, allows existing bacteria to devise mechanisms such as “neutralizing” antibiotics, removing antibiotics, adapting their structure so as to become impenetrable to the antibiotics, or improving upon their genetics. Improper use of bacteria, such as beginning an antibiotic, but failing to use it to completion, also allows bacteria to do the

The overuse of antibiotics has been a problem for well over a decade. This misuse leads to many nonvisible problems arising within the human population. As the use of antibiotics increases, the number of antibiotic resistant bacteria also increases. When bacteria become resistant to an antibiotic, another antibiotic must be used to try and kill it and the cycle becomes vicious. Michael Martin, Sapna Thottathil, and Thomas Newman stated that antimicrobial resistance is, “an increasingly serious threat to global public health that requires action across all government sectors and society” (2409).