The Health Threat of Antibiotic Resistance Essay

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

Furthermore, in the past 10-15 years, Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) has emerged as an increasingly important infectious disease worldwide. C. difficile is an antibiotic-associated bacteria that causes asymptomatic

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

(KArch) We as human-hosts are not just helpless victims, our continuous reliance on antibiotics treatment helps contribute to the ever growing problem. The increased and inappropriate use of antibiotic therapy is the main cause of these antibiotic resistant bacteria. Patient this day and age are often prescribed pills for every condition. Patients come into doctors’ offices demanding antibiotics and healthcare providers are filling these orders. This in turn contributed to this growing chain of antimicrobial resistance.

Antibiotic resistance can develop wherever antibiotics are: medical facilities, animal products and communities. Breaks in infection control, inadequate water sanitation and poor hygiene all contribute to the spread of resistant bacteria from person to person (Collignon, et al., 2015). The majority of antibiotic usage worldwide is in animals raised as a food source (Collignon, et al., 2015). 80% of antibiotic use in the United States is for growth promotion and disease prevention of farm animals used for food sources (CDC, 2015). This usage of antibiotics leads to the development of resistant bacteria, which spread to people via the food chain or water (Collignon, et al., 2015).

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,

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

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.

Antibiotic-resistant microbes infect more than two million Americans and kill over 100,000 each year. These numbers will continue to grow unless we make a drastic effort to curtail them. The necessary response is threefold and includes legislation, awareness, and activism. I will address all of these.

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.

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

It is thought that overuse of antibiotics is related to the development of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) (Austin). As a consequence, there has been an increasing trend to promote appropriate prescribing of antibiotics so as to maximise their therapeutic efficacy and minimise the outbreak of resistance. Antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) programs in hospitals are exemplary of a method used to promote rational prescription of antibiotics. In this review, we will briefly introduce some examples of AMR to illustrate the extent of this issue. We will then move on to describe AMS programs and the strategies required to

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).

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