The Discovery Of Antimicrobial Agents

The discovery of penicillin was one of the most important discoveries in the 1900s and marks a turning point in human history. Penicillin was one of the world’s first antibiotics which eventually evolved into modern antibiotics that are used today; it has often been described as a miracle drug. The discovery of penicillin meant that doctors finally could completely cure their patients of deadly diseases. After World War I, many soldiers died from infected wounds because the antiseptics used, killed the patients’ immunological defences more than they killed the invading bacteria. Penicillin kills bacteria by destroying the cell wall of the microorganism causing the cell to burst; it was very effective in clearing bacteria without harming the

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.

Antibiotics have played an essential role in the fight against diseases and infections since the 1940’s. Antibiotics are a leading cause for the rise of global average life expectancy in the 20th and 21st century. They have greatly reduced illnesses and deaths due to diseases. With the introductions of antibiotics in the 1940’s, like penicillin into clinical practice, formally deadly illnesses became immediately curable and saved thousands of lives (Yim 2006). Antibiotic use has been beneficial and when prescribed and taken correctly their effects on patients are exceedingly valuable. However, because these drugs have been used so widely and for such a long period of time the bacteria that the antibiotics are designed to kill have adapted,

Widespread use of antibiotics has been very controversial in the media as well in the general population. Due to these controversies, it is very misunderstood to how antibiotics work leading to many patients in the hospital setting wanting to take them when it is not necessary or refusing to take when it is necessary for their survival. Some of this controversy is due to antibiotic resistance, which has spread an alarming rate in the 21st century (Walsh, 2000). Antibiotic resistance is the result of very strong bacteria or microbes that are resistant to the antibiotic prescribed and those microbes accumulate overtime by their survival, reproduction and transfer, leading to increased levels of antibiotic resistance.

In the last fifty years, the most prominent and transformative medical advancement made was the discovery of antibiotics and disinfectants. On the contrary, with the uncovering of antibiotics came the repercussion of the progressively threatening antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria or ‘superbugs’ formed due to the lack of care from the people to follow through with simple safety procedures in order to entirely get rid of bacterial illnesses and infections. Appropriate precautions are necessary and expectedly need to be taken, in order to minimize and possibly prohibit the formation, continual growth and limit the strength of resistance in the antibiotic-resistant superbugs, and most importantly to preserve medical advancements

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.

Antibiotics were a huge deal 70 years ago at the advent of penicillin, what started it all. Since 1935, more than 150 antibiotics of various classes have been discovered – each adding to the stability of doctors being able to cure their patients. Physicians saw unprecedented rates of survival for previously almost entirely lethal infections.

Many people have died in the past due to infectious diseases. A human with an infection creates another organism which reproduces inside them. Like the pest, one of the most famous diseases killed millions of people in the 14th century. The only way to kill or stop the growth of an infection or bacteria is with antibiotics. The first antibiotic ever created was the penicillin and the greatest one till now. This drug was discovered by Alexander Fleming in the 1920´s but it was introduced in the 1940´s. Scientist began testing penicillin on lab rats but eventually, it was tested in humans. A man contracted a severe infection from a scratch on his face and Penicillin was given to him where he improved dramatically. After World War II, scientists

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

Before antibiotics were discovered, bacterial infections like strep throat and meningitis were untreatable and often deadly. Things that seem easily treatable to us now, like an ear infection, could mean a death sentence to those with weak immune systems, such as the very young or the elderly. Antibiotics were first discovered in the form of penicillin by Alexander Fleming in 1928, but its true power wasn’t recognized until the 1940s after more medical testing was conducted. Once the commercialization of antibiotics began, it was declared a ‘miracle drug’ and its use skyrocketed to the number of prescriptions we see today, about 150 million a year (“History of Antibiotics”). Antibiotics have saved millions of lives, and without a doubt have improved the quality of life of many people around the world, but unfortunately, not everyone uses them correctly. Overuse of prescription antibiotics is becoming increasingly common, with some people hoarding leftover pills and needlessly taking

When antibiotics were discovered in the early 1900’s, it revolutionized the medical world forever. Before this discovery millions and millions of people died from minor infections; there was not anything to fight off the growing bacteria. There are many types of antibiotics but the discovery of penicillin was first and it would leave everyone amazed and alive to this day.

In early history, one of the most important discoveries was penicillin which was discovered by Alexander Fleming. Fleming was a microbiologist who perfected the use of penicillin in 1928 to treat bacterial infections such as syphilis, gangrene and tuberculosis (Roberts, 2010). Antibiotics (penicillin) are designed to kill or slow the growth of bacteria (Roberts, 2010). However misuse and overuse of antibiotics when they are not needed only exposes patients to unnecessary side effects but also fosters the emergence of antibiotic resistant strains of infectious

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).

The specific purpose of this speech is to inform people about the emergence and evolution of antimicrobial resistance towards antimicrobial drugs and how microorganisms have continued to build resistance to antimicrobial drugs since the 1940s.

The evolutionary development of these superbugs can be attributed to the global misuse of antimicrobial agents. The overpopularity and distribution of antibiotics being sold without prescription to treat minor symptoms including headaches have promoted resistance growth. In addition, continual consumption and longer dose regimens of outdated, adulterated, and even counterfeit antibiotics are common. These factors have collectively contributed to the development of antimicrobial resistance. And hence, new antibiotics need to be produced as potential agents to address these pathogens.