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The And Its Effects On The World

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Superbugs are various strains of bacteria that have become resistant to multiple classes of antibiotics. This resistance has stemmed from the populations overuse or misuse of unnecessary medication and it is allowing various bacteria to become unbeatable to some of today’s most potent antibiotics. An alarming statistic that was recently released, “23,000 people are killed every year out of the 2 million who are be infected by these superbugs” (NIH Feb. 2014). Extended Spectrum Beta-Lactamases (ESBLs) are currently one of the leading superbugs in the world; with a skyrocketing mortality rate and plummeting choices of antibiotics to treat the infections caused by this bacterium, the clock is ticking to find this superbug’s Achilles tendon. …show more content…

An important note about E. coli is that the ESBL-producing E. coli strain and the E. coli O157 strain, which causes food poisoning, are different because they both produce different enzymes. Among the three microorganisms listed above for being able to produce ESBL, the CDC has named E. coli as one of the top three most common nosocomial infections. K. pneumonia and K. oxytoca are also both associated with being hospital-acquired infections. The strains of K. pneumonia, K. oxytoca, and E. coli that produce ESBLs are resistant to beta-lactam antibiotics, which includes penicillin, cephalosporin, and aztreonam. Penicillin is used to eliminate a wide range of bacterial infections. Cephalosporin is used to treat bacterial infections, such as respiratory tract infections, skin infections, and urinary tract infections. Aztreonam is used to treat severe bacterial infections of the urinary tract, respiratory tract, skin, stomach, female reproductive organs, and other body systems. The areas that these medications are used to treat also happen to be the areas most commonly affected by the three prominent ESBL producing microorganisms. The mechanism of resistance that the bacteria utilize is the production of an enzyme known as Extended Spectrum Beta-Lactamases (ESBLs), which enter inside the antibiotic and render it inactive. Beta-lactamases are the name of the enzymes, which enter the antibiotic. In Greece in the 1960s, TEM was the first plasmid-mediated

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