Hello everyone, this time I will post about Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria. it was inspired by our friend
Namely Om Kris Blogger.
A
patient is ill with pneumonia and gets a prescription for
penicillin. After 3 days, he feels much better and stops taking his pills.
A few days later, his symptoms return. He quickly finds his pills and
starts taking them again, but this time they have no effect. What
happened? This frightening phenomenon is called antibiotic resistance.
Antibiotic
resistance is caused by natural selection. Penicillin kills most of the
pneumonia bacteria, but a few penicillin-resistant bacteria survive. These
bacteria then multiply, and eventually the patient’s infection comes back
only this time, the bacteria are resistant to penicillin.
When
penicillin, the first antibiotic, became widely available, it was
rightfully lauded as a wonder drug and dramatically cut the number of
illnesses and deaths due to bacterial infections. After only a decade of
use, however, the first penicillin-resistant bacterial strains appeared.
Antibiotic resistance has only increased since then, with more and more
bacterial populations becoming resistant to more and more different
antibiotics. Diseases once easy to treat—tuberculosis, pneumonia, even
common childhood ailments such as ear infections are now often resistant to
multiple antibiotics. And in some hospitals, there are infectious bacteria
that are resistant to every antibiotic on the market. Because it
results from natural selection, antibiotic resistance is inevitable all
antibiotic use contributes to resistance.
However, resistance
has been greatly accelerated by the overuse of antibiotics. Under pressure from
patients, physicians often prescribe antibiotics for illnesses that are
not caused by bacteria many commonillnesses, such as colds, flus, and most sore
throats, for example, are caused by viruses. These antibiotics select for resistance
in the normal (non-disease-causing) bacterial populations in
our bodies, making it possible for resistance genes to be transferred
to disease causing bacteria that later invade the body. The fact
that patients sometimes stop taking their medications too soon
only exacerbates the problem by selecting for antibiotic-resistant
strains without providing the sustained dose that would actually kill
all the bacteria. Antibiotics also see heavy usage in the livestock
industry, where animals are sometimes given antibiotics regularly, even
when they are healthy, in an attempt to prevent illness. Unfortunately, this
practice only increases antibiotic resistance, a fact highlighted in 1983
by the development of antibiotic-resistant Salmonella poisoning in 18 people
who ate meat from cows raised on antibiotics.
So, what can
be done about antibiotic resistance? First, humans must learn to use
antibiotics wisely, taking them only when they are needed that is, for
bacterial infections and then taking the entire course of treatment.
Physicians and veterinarians can also promote a socially responsible
approach to antibiotics by educating patients and agriculturalists on the
proper application of these drugs. Finally, since many antibiotics are
less effective now because of resistance, scientists must continue to
search for new antibiotics that will take the place of those that no
longer do the job.
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