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For over 50 years, antibiotics have been the answer to many
bacterial infections. Antibiotics are chemical substances that are
secreted by living things. Doctors prescribed these medicines to cure
many diseases. During World War II, it treated one of the biggest
killers during wartime - infected wounds. It was the beginning of the
antibiotic era. But just when antibiotics were being mass produced,
bacteria started to evolve and became resistant to these medicines.
Antibiotic resistance can be the result of different things. One
cause of resistance could be drug abuse. There are people who believe
that when they get sick, antibiotics are the answer. The more times you
use a drug, the more it will decrease the effect it has on you. That is
because the bacteria has found a way to avoid the effects of that
antibiotic. Another cause of resistance is the improper use of drugs.
When patients feel that the symptoms of their disease have improved,
they often stop taking the drug. Just because the symptoms have
disappeared it does not mean the disease has gone away. Prescribed
drugs should be taken until all the medicine is gone so the disease is
completely finished. If it is not, then this will just give the
bacteria some time to find a way to avoid the effects of the drug.
One antibiotic that will always have a long lasting effect in
history is penicillin. This was the first antibiotic ever to be
discovered. Alexander Fleming was the person responsible for the
discovery in 1928. In his laboratory, he noticed that in some of his
bacteria colonies, that he was growing, were some clear spots. He
realized that something had killed the bacteria in these clear spots,
which ended up to be a fungus growth. He then discovered that inside
this mold was a substance that killed bacteria. It was the antibiotic,
penicillin.
Penicillin became the most powerful germ-killer known at that time.
Antibiotics kill disease-causing bacteria by interfering with their
processes. Penicillin kills bacteria by attaching to their cell walls.
Then it destroys part of the wall. The cell wall breaks apart and
bacteria dies.
After four years, when drug companies started to mass produce
penicillin, in 1943, the first signs of penicillin-resistant bacteria
started to show up. The first bacteria that fought penicillin was
called Staphylococcus aureus. This bug is usually harmless but can
cause an illness such as pneumonia. In 1967, another
penicillin-resistant bacteria formed. It was called pneumococcus and it
broke out in a small village in Papua New Guinea. Other penicillin
resistant bacteria that formed are Enterococcus faecium and a new
strain of gonorrhea.
Antibiotic resistance can occur by a mutation of DNA in bacteria or
DNA acquired from another bacteria that is drug-resistant through
transformation. Penicillin-resistant bacteria can alter their cell
walls so penicillin can not attach to it. The bacteria can also produce
different enzymes that can take apart the antibiotic.
Since antibiotics became so prosperous, all other strategies to
fight bacterial diseases were put aside. Now since the effects of
antibiotics are decreasing and antibiotic resistance is increasing, new
research on how to battle bacteria is starting.
Antibiotic resistance spreads fast but efforts are being made to
slow it. Improving infection control, discovering new antibiotics, and
taking drugs more appropriately are ways to prevent resistant bacteria
from spreading. In developing nations, approaches are being made to
control infections such as hand washing by health care people, and
identifying drug resistant infections quickly to keep them away from
others. The World Health Organization has began a global computer
program that reports any outbreaks of drug-resistant bacterial
infections.
In the early 1900's, the discovery of penicillin began the
antibiotic era. People thought they have finally won the battle with
bacteria. But now since antibiotic resistance is increasing rapidly,
new strategies must be developed to destroy these microbes. To many
scientists the antibiotic era is over.
Bibliography
Bylinsky, Gene. Sept. 5,1995. The new fight against killer microbes. Fortune. p. 74-76.
Dixon, Bernard. March 17,1995. Return of the killer bugs. New Statesman & Society. p. 29-32.
Levy, Stuart B. Jan. 15,1995. Dawn of the post-antibiotic era? Patient Care. p. 84-86.
Lewis, Ricki. Sept. 1995. The rise of antibiotic-resistant infections. FDA Consumer. p. 11-15.
Miller, Julie Ann. June 1995. Preparing for the postantibiotic era. BioScience. p. 384-392.
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