The resistance of bacteria to antibiotics is becoming a grave and global medical problem. This is because whenever antibiotics are taken the development of resistance is a given consequence; bacteria adapt to changing environmental conditions through the continuous process of evolution. The main issue with antibiotics is not whether but when antibiotic resistance will occur.
This resistance is caused by the lack of new antibiotics available and continuing over-prescription of antibiotics. Any bacteria that acquire resistance alleles, by either random mutation or genetic exchange with other bacteria, have the capability to resist multiple antibiotics. Therefore, the process of bacteria gaining multiple resistance attributes over time gives bacteria the ability to become resistant to many different families of antibiotics.
Nosocomial infections are, in particular, an progressively prevalent problem. This is because weakened immune systems of hospital patients make them particularly vulnerable to infection. E. coli is frequent cause of infection, especially in the urinary tract. This means patients catheters could easily be at risk to a resistant-strand of E.coli. In the US alone, the overall cost for medical intervention of nosocomial urinary tract infections is staggering, with approximately $424 million to $451 million spent annually in the United States to manage these infections (source).
Alarmingly, 17.3% infections requiring hospitalisation have been attributed to
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.
Antibiotics are powerful very frequently used potential drugs in fighting bacterial infections worldwide, [1]. These agents saved millions of lives in the past fifty years in both hospital-based and outpatient settings. Inadequate measures to control the spreading of infections, overprescribing as well as inappropriate selection and dosing of antibiotics by healthcare providers, unfettered access to antimicrobials by public, failure to adhere to clinically desired treatment regimens are some of the driving force to spread of antibiotics resistance, [2]. In addition, lack of regulations to promote the rational use of antibiotics in humans, infection prevention and control are some of the other factors that lead to emergence of resistance to antibiotics, [3].
When non-resistant bacteria are exposed to an antibiotic, most of them die. But due to the increase of mutations some of the bacteria are becoming resistance to the antibiotic. The bacteria are all subject to natural selection. Natural selection is as simple as saying that the bacteria that have not developed a mutation or resistance that helps them to survive die. The ones that do, survive and pass on the mutation to the next generation. This means that we are constantly having to adapt our antibiotics because so much of the mutation is getting passed along. The flu vaccination is a good example of how mutations are carried over and how the vaccine had to be changed every year to fight the ever changing virus. Some strains
Antibiotic resistance happens when bacteria come into contact with an antibiotic over and over again.
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.
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
However, microorganisms are now evolving and developing unprecedented resistance to penicillin and other once potent drugs, like
One of the greatest problems our world faces today is rising antibiotic resistance in viruses, bacteria and pathogens in general. This is a human-driven problem; the more we use antibiotics to save lives today, the stronger the pathogens infecting and harming us tomorrow will be. The entire problem is based in natural selection because antibiotics kill all of a pathogen except for a special few who were themselves deformed in a way that enabled them to survive. These then become the pathogens that infect everyone, so the previous solution is no longer able to solve the problem the next time around. There can be no single concrete solution, but rather endless research and discovery to stop these pathogens from causing death and destruction
There are many factors behind the reason of why some pathogens have become resistant to antibiotics. The widespread use of antibiotics has resulted in natural selection of pathogens that are resistant to these medications. Under some circumstances, bacteria can transfer genes for resistance directly from one cell to another.
For a bacterium to become resistant a change in its DNA must occur. This can happen in more than one way. Bacterium may gain resistance through spontaneous mutation within the bacterium’s DNA. This occurs when a single amino acid that makes up a protein changes arrangement, the order of the peptide chain (made up of amino acids, joined together to make up proteins) then the purpose of the protein in the DNA changes. This causes the genetic makeup of the cell to alter. If the mutation is of benefit and gives the bacteria resistance, once all the other none resistant strains of bacteria are killed, the resistant bacteria multiplies and reproduces, creating a new strain of bacteria which is resistant to the antibiotic in hand. Once a resistance gene is obtained and inserted into the DNA, the bacterium can dominate other bacteria and
Also, the bacteria that were susceptible at some point to an antibiotic can achieve resistance through mutation of their genetic material (“Antibiotic Resistance: Questions & Answers”, 2017). The DNA that has the code for resistance can be easily grouped in a transferable package. This causes bacteria to become resistant to many antimicrobial agents due to a transfer of a piece of DNA (“Antibiotic Resistance: Questions & Answers”, 2017). Antibiotics can stop working against bacteria in multiple ways. The bacteria can change the structure of the target (or even replacing it within another molecule altogether) so that the antibiotic can no longer recognize it or bind to it (“How do bacteria become resistant to antibiotics”, 2018).
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.
Each time an antibiotic is used it creates a “selective pressure” on the microbial community. The bacteria, which are susceptible to the antibiotic treatment, will be killed. This allows for the non-susceptible bacteria to grow without competition, and accordingly become the dominant population (8). Antibiotic resistance in bacteria occurs by two mechanisms. The first mechanism is a rare mutation in the genome, which allows the cell to
Antibiotic resistance happens when bacteria come into contact with an antibiotic over and over again. Over time, the bacteria
Less than 50 years after penicillin was discovered, strains of bacteria were discovered to be resistant to antibiotics (Haddox, 2013). Over the years scientists have changed the structure of the antibiotics to avoid this resistance, every time the bacteria adapts to overcome the changes. Bacteria divides as fast as 20 minutes and have many different ways to adapt (Haddox, 2013). Bacteria pass their drug resistance between strains and species, causing antibiotics to be less effective to all bacteria (Haddox, 2013).