The Importance Of Antibiotic Resistance

Antibiotic resistance is a phenomenon in which germs evolve to be able to resist the action of drugs. This causes illnesses that were once easily curable with antibiotics to become dangerous infections, requiring alternative medications or higher doses. With millions of deaths increasing every year, antibiotic resistance has become one of the world's most pressing public health problems. This essay will explain the key causes of the emergence of resistant bacteria, including antibiotic misuse, inappropriate prescribing and availability of few new antibiotics, and outline relevant effects of antibiotic resistance.

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.

Antibiotics are inarguably one of the greatest advances in medical science of the past century. Although the first natural antibiotic Penicillin was not discovered until 1928 by Scottish biologist Alexander Flemming, evidence exists that certain plant and mold growths were used to treat infections in ancient Egypt, ancient India, and classical Greece (Forrest, 1982). In our modern world with the advent of synthetic chemistry synthetic antibiotics like Erithromycin and its derivative Azithromycin have been developed. Antibiotics have many uses including the treatment of bacterial and protozoan infection, in surgical operations and prophylactically to prevent the development of an infection. Through these applications, antibiotics have saved countless lives across the world and radically altered the field of medicine. Though a wonderful and potentially lifesaving tool, antibiotic use is not without its disadvantages. Mankind has perhaps been too lax in regulation and too liberal in application of antibiotics and growing antibiotic resistance is the price we must now pay. A recent study showed that perhaps 70% of bacterial infections acquired during hospital visits in the United States are resistant to at least one class of antibiotic (Leeb, 2004). Bacteria are not helpless and their genetic capabilities have allowed them to take advantage of society’s overuse of antibiotics, allowing them to develop

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

Antibiotic resistance has become a hot topic amongst scientists and healthcare professionals. It would be rare to observe in a clinical setting and not see some type of antibiotic resistant infection being treated. Scientists and medical doctors are scrambling trying to develop plans to discover new drugs or at least dampen the rate at which these organisms are developing resistance. Evolutionary biologists are claiming this type of resistance as proof of evolution, but is that a statement that is really supported by the evidence? It depends on which type of evolution is being talked about first. Macroevolution is the theory that one species can evolve into a totally different species. Microevolution is the change of genotypes and phenotypes

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.

Antibiotics are medicines that are used to treat bacterial infections. Antibiotic resistance means that an antibiotic is no longer effective in treating an infection. Resistance can develop if you use antibiotics the wrong way.

The use of the healthcare system as a whole is largely determined by the cost incurred by the patient, as well as insurance companies within the healthcare system. As for combating the growth of antibiotic resistance, it might be beneficial to increase the cost of antibiotics so that they are used only when clinically appropriate. This, however, would lead to a decrease in access to patients who might actually need these forms of treatment and who are unable to afford them. Additionally, increasing the cost of treatment options may cause there to be a delay or abandonment of therapy. While neither of these options may be ideal to patients, and even the healthcare system as a whole, the consideration of their use may aid in lowering the prevalence of antibiotic resistance.

Also known as superbugs, these bugs are resistant to our modern day antibiotics. People around the world are trying to figure out alternatives to this plague. These bugs have evolved over years and years becoming stronger and passing down genes from generation to generation, To slowly become the super bugs that they are known as today. Often these resistant genes are caused by overuse of antibiotics by humans and farm animals, but this is not always true. Recently the ARS (the American Recorder Society) found antibiotic resistance in prairie soils that had no human contact. Antibiotic resistance is commonly viewed as a result of antibiotic overuse in humans and animals, Recently found antibiotic-resistant

Is the United States Healthcare system equipped to address the increasing threat from resistant Staphylococcal aureus, and resistant gram negative infection in US hospitals?

When a bacterium develops a resistance to an antibiotic, the ability to kill the bacteria proves to be more difficult, causing the bacteria to reproduce rapidly without obstruction. A pathogen is able to gain resistance through the use of an antibiotic. Thus, if a microbe is able to survive the process of “selective pressure” then the bacteria with the resistance is able to reproduce, causing more pathogens with the defiance to spread. In addition to selective pressure, a bacterium has the possibility of developing a mutation or acquiring certain DNA codes that allow the microbes to obtain certain traits from other bacteria. This then allows any bacterium to become resistant due to the transfer of a DNA piece.

get sick, antibiotics are the answer. The more times you use a drug, the more

The overuse of antibiotics is creating stronger germs; some bacteria is already resistant to antibiotics. Therefore, when bacteria become resistant to antibiotics, it is difficult and costly to treat that infection. The treat to a serious bacterial infection is a big threat to public health.

Using antibiotics to treat infectious diseases as a result of bacteria has added 20 years to our lifespan, but the rapid emergence of antibiotic resistance is hindering their effectiveness. Cutting-edge antibiotics are required, but they have not been developed in the last 25 years (WHO, 2016). One class of antibiotics are beta-lactams, which are sub-divided into four different groups of antimicrobial agents, as shown in Figure 1.

Antibiotic resistance is not a new phenomenon and has been around since the inception of antibiotics almost 50 years ago. However, instead of improving with the advancements of modern technology and medicine, multi-drug resistant organisms (MDROs) are becoming more difficult to combat as they are becoming resistant to more types of antibiotics. Recently, the resistance problem has worsened considerably in Gram-negative bacilli, which are responsible for a variety of nosocomial infections in patients. The Acinetobacter spp. in particular is an organism that is synonymous to the hospital environment and recent studies have found that of the 1,085 isolates of Acinetobacter spp., 14.9% and 41.8% were resistant to seven, and to all eight antimicrobial agents tested, respectively (Lee, Yong, Jeong, & Chong, 2011). Not only are MDROs increasing in resistance to more types of antibiotics, but the pre-existing organisms that are found in hospitals today are increasing in strength to specific antibiotics as well. The findings by Lee et al. (2011) concluded that 70% of all S. aureus were resistant to methicillin (MRSA), with the proportion of Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) at 78.9%. Upon examination, the research reveals that the trends of MDROs are on the rise, especially in the hospital setting.