The Cause And Effect Of Antibiotic Resistance In Public Health Factors

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.

The more that researchers understood the genetic processes of bacteria, the better they had understood the concept of antibiotic resistance and why it could end up evolving far beyond the capabilities of current medicine (Podolsky 30). Vigorous research for decades since the antibiotic was created allowed a look into how evolving bacteria could become a major health issue as they are conditioned into resisting major strains of antibiotics.

(KArch) We as human-hosts are not just helpless victims, our continuous reliance on antibiotics treatment helps contribute to the ever growing problem. The increased and inappropriate use of antibiotic therapy is the main cause of these antibiotic resistant bacteria. Patient this day and age are often prescribed pills for every condition. Patients come into doctors’ offices demanding antibiotics and healthcare providers are filling these orders. This in turn contributed to this growing chain of antimicrobial resistance.

The misuse of antibiotics means that bacteria that have minor resistances survive when patients do not follow their prescription regimens, and then they are able to flourish and spread this resistance to other bacteria (14). This is a result of miseducation among the public about when antibiotics should be taken. In the United States, for instance, 9% of people who take antibiotics are either taking antibiotics that they or someone they knew had leftover (15). This is a danger because taking antibiotics when they are not needed removes the body's natural flora that helps prevent infection and allows for antibiotic resistant bacteria to

According to previous, excessive use of antibiotics is one of the causes of drug resistance in different pathogens, this concern has caused many hospitals around the world develop guidelines and strategies to use appropriate antibiotics and are committed themselves to

The misuse of antibiotics has the potential to set society back in time to the dark ages. It is time to end the careless use of these valuable antimicrobial that so many take for granted. Antibiotic resistance continues to expand and evolve and solutions to this epidemic need to implemented. By establishing stewardships, educational programs, and restrictions it teaches the severity of this issue and action that must be taken in order to decrease resistance. Antibiotic resistance is a multifactorial issue. Introducing preventative measures in hospitals will be most effective in reducing resistance, as well as eliminating the trend of misusing antibiotics.

Antibiotics has played a huge role in the field of medicine since it was first discovered in 1928. Antibiotics are antimicrobial drug that kills or inhibits growth of diseases which prevents many illnesses. However, in the past decade, Antibiotic resistant bacteria has become the world’s latest pandemic. Many strains of bacteria have adapted and developed resistance against antibiotics. According to the CDC, “at least two million people are infected with bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics and at least 23,000 people die each year as a direct result of these infections.” (CDC) This is a problem because antibiotics are the number one defense tactics against bacterial infections. Without this line of defense, people vulnerable to bacteria growth which can cause problems in health.

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

Resistance is easily spread, either ‘horizontally’, through gene exchange within bacteria, or ‘vertically’, through sequential mutation and formation of antibiotic resistance through new generations. (State Government of Victoria 2015) A massive 80-90% of antibiotics ingested are excreted as waste because they are not broken down inside the body. They then enter the environment, allowing gene transfer to occur and facilitating resistance in more bacteria. Therefore, as resistance is spread so easily, the risks become even higher. Additionally, if antibiotics continue to be used so abundantly, the majority will be made resistant due to the widespread use. Moreover, as the current degree of antibiotic use continues, then society’s ability to treat common infectious diseases sharply increase. Those infected with superbugs are unable to respond to standard medicine, thus are ill for a longer period of time, accumulate higher health care costs, and have a greater risk of mortality. According to the World Health Organisation, people with MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), a common infection in hospitals, are 64% more likely to die in comparison with people with the non-resistant form of Staphylococcus aureus. Additionally, as individuals are

Millions of lives are saved every single day because of antibiotics treating common infections, allowing organ transplants, as well extending the average lifespan by decades. About half of the emergency cases treated in the intensive care units in the video “Antibiotic Resistance—Catalyst” are suffering from bacterial infections as well as coming to terms that it is no longer treatable, because bacteria are rapidly becoming resistant to all the antibiotics we have. By overusing this incalculable medical resource, we are basically risking the loss the potency of antibiotics, which is a threat to the human race.

The current discovery of growing antibiotic resistant bacteria has been linked to the public’s unaware overuse of antibiotics and changing rates of antibiotic prescription. Many people in the U.S. are already knowledgeable that antibiotics are used to help fight against disease or infections, but the mass population is blind to the negative drawbacks of overusing the antibiotics. The research “ Study shows for antibiotic overuse” by Mike Stobbe (2013) provides a clear explanation of the drawback provided by The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stating that antibiotic resistant bacteria are produced, “when antibiotics are not used long enough or are taken for the wrong reasons, allowing

Antibiotic resistant infections are on the rise in the United States, and this rise can be directly attributed to the over-prescription of antibiotics by healthcare professionals. Even with the many advances in the world today when it comes to antibiotics and treating infections, antibiotic resistant diseases are on the rise. With the diminished ability to destroy the growth of bacteria, the less we are able to get the quick fix that we believe is achieved with the use of antibiotics. Resistance compromises the benefits that we currently have to treat anything from pneumonias to antibiotics given

Antibiotic use inevitably leads to the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Although most bacteria, which are sensitive, are killed by the antibiotic treatment, there are often a few resistant bacteria that still grow and multiply. This repeated process leads to antibiotic resistance. Not only that, but the problem of antibiotic resistance is perpetuated and worsened by people’s improper and unnecessary use of antibiotics, such as instinctively turning to antibiotic treatment instead of actually assessing their illnesses, not properly

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).

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).