The Health Threat of Antibiotic Resistance Essay

Antibiotic resistance evolves in bacteria. Charles Darwin created the theory of evolution which focused on natural selection being the key factor of how things change. Natural selection is when organisms that are better suited to the environment are able to reproduce successfully. Evolution is descent with modification. Bacteria can become resistant to antibiotics by a mutation. The bacteria that did not die from the antibiotic inherited the gene from an ancestor that made it resistant. Since the other bacteria is dying faster than the resistant bacteria, the resistant bacteria are able to multiply

Antibiotic resistance is when microorganisms, such as bacteria, are able to survive an exposure to antibiotics and these bacteria are now resistant to the effects of these antibiotics. Antibiotic resistance in bacteria has been an issue since antibiotics were discovered. The fact that bacteria can become resistant to our medical treatments such as antibiotics is a natural evolutionary process, but there are certain human contributions that definitely speed up the process. For example, one of the main contributions that will be discussed is the problem of over prescription of the antibiotic drugs. The

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

The world health organisation has announced antibiotic resistance and the rise of superbugs as a great threat to human race. Superbugs are defined as bacteria equipped bacteria with "bullet proof vests” of antibiotic resistance that deflect "magic silver bullets" of antibiotics. Under right circumstances, they can transfer the antibiotic resistance genes to other bacteria and completely paralyse humans to combat against bacteria (news.com.au 2014). In Australia, thousands of people per year are diagnosed with superbugs and these victims often face a prolonged illness and ultimately death (Pogson 2012). The severity of the problem can become apparent by referring to the death attributable to antibiotic resistance every year from 2014 to 2050,

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.

The general populace of western civilization may believe that modern medicine is limitless and that numerous afflictions that are common can be easily resolved with the major strides medicine has taken in the past century. In the case of antibiotics, this couldn’t be farther from the truth and its use leaves a nasty prospect for the future. Antibiotics, the type of drug that is capable of killing harmful bacteria, is widely regarded as a simple gift from medical research and is expected to be prescribed for even the mildest of illnesses. However, the use of antibiotics has proved that it comes with a terrible byproduct: leftover bacteria that survives the drug and evolves strains that are resistant to the drugs the world currently

Since penicillin and other antibiotics are ubiquitous in the market for people and companies to purchase, the chances of misusing them increase as a result. The two major factors that contribute to antibiotic resistance are through agricultural and medical use, respectively. Therefore, we should consider different arguments and identify the main cause of the problem before implementing any actions to resolve this challenging issue. In this inquiry and exploration paper, I am trying to explore who is responsible for this health crisis and what can be done to alleviate the impacts this issue has on our

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.

Due to this research being a retrospective chart review, confounding varables that can be seen as limitation to this study are inaccurate admission data and home medication documentation by clinical staff . Therefore, information that are missing from patients’ electronic record should be search for in the patient’s hard chart. Furthermore, the limitation of the sample size due to conducting the research in one hospital and the 30 days period after antibiotic therapy can be seen as a limitation of the study. In a study by Kavanagh et al. (2016), it was noted that patients that were exposed to high risk antimicrobials like Clindamycin, Cephalosporins, fluoroquinolones or Co-amoxiclav were at increased risk of

One big factor in the resistance bacteria show towards antibiotics is antibiotic concentration. Usually, if large amounts of an antibiotic are attacking a bacteria it will stop the multiplication process and even kill it off, but if there is small amounts of antibiotic it will allow the bacteria to continue to spread. You can find many bacteria in a jelly-like biofilm which provides a shield to them.

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).

A couple times a year local and national mass media put the spotlight on problems connected to antibiotic overuse. Some people consider those problems to be real and serious, and others think that the discussed topics are nothing more than new “fashionable” subjects to talk about, distracting people from “real” problems, such as climbing gas prices or war expenses. Meanwhile, antibiotic overuse continues as a common practice among US doctors and agribusinesses for the last 20 years. The practice of antibiotic overuse has put patient’s health at risk, contributed to antibiotic resistance and increased bacterial mutation to a new, stronger level; as well as it hitting the economy with new costly expenses in health care. It is time to stop

Antibiotic resistance will kill 300 million people by 2050. Antibiotic resistance appears when an antibiotic resistance loses the strength to effectively manage or kill bacteria and bacteria growth. There are some antibiotics that are naturally resistant to the human body. There are two other ways your body could become antibiotic resistant, 1) by genetics or 2) by acquiring resistance from other antibiotics. Many people ask how antibiotic resistance spreads. It can spread “vertically” which is a new generation that inherits antibiotic resistance genes. It can also spread “horizontally” is when bacteria share or exchange sections of genetic material with other bacteria.

It is vital for the global community to recognize the dangers of antibiotic resistance and the importance of addressing it. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest threats to global health, food security, and development today” (INSERT CITATION). Before the development of antibiotics, infectious diseases, such as bacterial meningitis and strep throat, killed thousands of people, especially children, a year. These once-fatal diseases are now easily treatable with antibiotics. However, the rise of antibiotic resistance threatens to make these diseases fatal once again. Compounding the issue of increasing resistance is the slow development of new antibiotics. Only two new classes of antibiotics have been developed and placed on the marker in the past few decades (Battle super bugs citation). Antibiotic resistance has tremendous implications for global health and economics, as discussed in this section.

Antibiotic resistance is one of the greatest threats to global health, food security and development today, it occurs naturally, but the pace of its process speeds up its abuse when given to humans and animals and it can harm anyone regardless of age and country of residence (Laxminarayan, et al.2013). According to World Health Organization (WHO), there are 700,000 people death every year because of antibiotic resistance (WHO,2016). A study by the Public Health Foundation in England found between 2010 and 2013 that prescription antibiotics increased by 6 percent and Escherichia coli resistance was recorded by 12 percent for the same period. Antibiotic resistance is on the rise to dangerous levels around the world, and new