How Hospital Distribute Antibiotics

Resistance among bacteria to current antibiotics may cause a new pre-antibiotic era, where common bacterial infections become as lethal as before the invention of the first antibiotic penicillin. With resistance on the rise, ‘simple’ surgery, cancer treatment and organ transplantation may become impossible.[4] Despite this very big and real threat[1], big pharmaceutical companies have abandoned or decreased their efforts to develop new antibiotics, while the demand for new and broad –and small– spectrum antibiotics is increasing.[2] [3] In this paper I will give an outline of the main factors why big pharmaceutical companies are no longer developing new antibiotics and I will attempt to pose possible solutions –call it Utopian solutions– that may turn the tide before it is too late.

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.

When antibiotic is used most of the bacteria die but a few bacteria with antibiotic resistance gene survive and reproduce and pass this advantage to their offsprings. This selective pressure exists naturally, however antibiotic misuse can be accused for fastening the spread of the antibiotic resistance gene [Refer to figure 2] (Learn Genetics 2015). Consequently, inappropriate antibiotic intake will lead to a greater chance of superbugs being developed. Antibiotic resistance can be defined as a new ability which a bacterium has developed to stay unattached in the presence of an antibiotic that was previously effective to destroy the bacterium (ABC science 2015). Four key mechanisms that has been identified for bacterial antibiotic resistance can be listed as: producing enzymes that inhibit the functionality of the drug, reducing the effectiveness of the drug by producing targets against which the antibiotic, reducing the permeability of the drug into the bacterium and active export of antibiotics using various pumps (Pogson 2012). All these mechanisms can be developed by any of the bacteria when the corresponding mutated gene of antibacterial resistance is received. The genes code for specific proteins, and variation in the gene leads to alteration of the shape of proteins. This leads to changing the functionality

In doing research for an example of natural selection, I came across antibiotic resistant bacteria. This has become one of the biggest threats to the healthcare community and Center for Disease Control. Through the use of antibiotics in treatments that are not necessarily bacterial infections, as well as the over use and misuse of antibiotics, bacteria have evolved in ways making the antibiotics used against them useless. If a bacteria manages to survive through a dose of an antibiotic, they are capable of mutating and can transfer their DNA to other bacteria. The new bacteria multiply quickly and spread to other parts of your body or outside of your body to a new host. Once the bacteria have mutated and its DNA has been transferred to

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

The war against bacteria and their ability to evolve at a much faster rate than humans can create antibiotics (a medicine that hinders and disrupts bacterial growth and or destroys it) to fight against them has the human race at a disadvantage. With more and more bacteria being found to have strains of drug-resistant chains is creating a health crisis around the world as global health officials try to find a way to protect their populations against this up and coming threat, and the issues it poses for the future of medicine and treatment of infections. Due to increased use of antibiotics in unneeded situations, bacteria are having more chances to let mutations that are immune to antibiotics be spread through other bacteria. This is causing more cases of antibiotic resistant bacteria and increasing the number of them. Drug resistance results in higher costs due to longer hospital pays and more expensive antibiotics, need for supervision, patient education, and new drug developments.

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

When a person takes an antibiotic incorrectly, it kills those that don’t have a mutation and also can kill the good bacteria that your body needs for daily activity such as digesting food. Once all the good and bad bacteria are dead, those that are left with the genetic mutation start to reproduce rapidly and eventually take over leaving you with a mass amount of bacteria that are resistant to whatever it is that normally kills them and can create a resistance.

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

Antibiotics are commonly used to treat bacterial infections in both humans and animals however the overuse and inappropriate prescription of antibiotics has caused a worldwide concern in antibiotic resistance (FDA, 2015). Antibiotic resistance is when bacteria is able to evolve in such a way enabling the bacteria to survive in the conditions it is in, consequently causing antibiotics being ineffective to the patient (CDC, 2013). Due to this issue implementations and actions have been taken to aid in the reduction of antibiotic resistance.

Antibiotic resistance occurs due to the strong selection pressure that antibiotics impose on a bacterium community. Most bacteria are affected by the antibiotic and are killed, but at times, a mutation occurs in an individual that leads to a resistant bacterium. This resistant strain can then spread rapidly due to the lack of competing bacteria (Yurchenko, 2018). This resistance is more likely to occur from the overuse of antibiotics; therefore, it has been a point of emphasis to use antibiotics only when necessary and not

Increasing bacterial resistance to antibiotic treatments has become a worldwide issue over the last 20 years as consumer and general practitioner’s incentives for a ‘quick fix’ to minor illnesses have caused a negative externality for the consumption of antibiotics. A negative externality in this example is when a third party, in this case, society as a whole, is adversely affected by the overconsumption of antibiotics, due to greater bacterial resistance, causing more advanced diseases that pose a greater risk to the health of a society. The roles played by consumers, doctors and pharmaceutical manufacturers will be discussed in detail

Nearly all antibiotics are being defied by infections of certain bacteria. There is hope to have the resistance trend reversed if consideration is given to how good and bad bacteria is affected by drugs

Bacterial infections are becoming resistant to antibiotics due to people that are sick and receive an antibiotic from their doctor; but as soon as they start to feel better they stop taking the antibiotic. If you stop taking antibiotics before the treatment is over can cause the bacteria to return stronger and this time resistant to that antibiotic. Another reason that certain bacteria’s are becoming resistant to antibiotics is due to patients expecting doctors to prescribe antibiotics to them even though they have a viral infection not a bacterial one. “Antibiotics are among the most commonly prescribed drugs used in human medicine. However, up to 50% of all the antibiotics prescribed for people are not needed or are not optimally effective as prescribed.” ("Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria."). Because of the large amount of antibiotics we take we are killing off our normal flora, which helps us digest our food.