A Pressing Problem, Antibiotic Resistance
As we all know Antibiotics are given to sick individuals to help them fight off their illness. The first antibiotic, Penicillin, was discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1927. Most antibiotics are made from microorganisms that kill specific bacteria. They are also composed of synthetic material that will kill the microbes.
Resistance is a good thing when you are trying to stay off a certain food when you’re on a diet. Resistance on the other hand is bad when you are trying to fight an infection. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has found that the United States has a serious problem with antibiotic resistance. Antibiotic resistance is the inability of the antibiotics to fight off bacteria. The bacteria can change its chemical makeup to fight off the affect of the antibiotic. The bacteria also become stronger or immune to the antibiotic.
If your doctor prescribes an Antibiotic for you then you have to follow some rules to make sure that your body fights off the bacteria. When you are on antibiotics you can not drink and if you’re on some other medication it might lose its effect. When taking antibiotics, make sure you follow the directions and take them for the prescribed time so you can fight off the infection. This also helps to keep that antibiotic from becoming resistant to the bacteria. Taking antibiotics when not completely necessary also increases antibiotic resistance.
The problem of bacterial resistance results from the rapid duplication of the bacteria. As a result, these bacteria can also fight off the antibiotics before it can destroy them and bacteria can also change its chemical composition at the binding site with the antibiotic and then the antibiotic does not destroy the function of the bacteria. Another reason this resistant is occurring is because the bacteria can mutate itself so it will not be destroyed by the antibiotic.
There are a few things that can be done to stop antibiotic resistance. Make sure that you only take antibiotics when you have a bacterial infection. If you take them when they are not necessary your body develops a resistance to the antibiotic. You must take the medicine for as long as it is prescribed if you stop taking it then there is a good chance that the infection will come back. Make sure you follow the proper instructions so you can fight off the infection and prevent antibiotic resistant infections.
Another approach to stop resistance is known as Phage Therapy. Phage Therapy was most commonly used in the United States before the discovery of antibiotics. A phage is a virus that enters a bacteria and destroys the metabolism and causes the bacteria to destroy itself. The success rate of Phage Therapy is fairly high having only slight side effects. (Wikipedia)
Post by: barkley519 (1)
Source: http://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/community/anitbiotic-resistance.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antibiotic_resistance
posted by PWH @ 4:11 PM
18 comments
18 Comments:
I've had this problem occur to me. I was on a medicine for so long that it eventually stopped working. I think it's really interesting how the bacteria has the ability to change its chemical structure in order to survive and continue growing. Do you know if this change has any affect on the bacteria itself? Robyn Botelho
I think this is very interesting. I am in total agreement with what you have written. I never usually follow the directions on the medication that I am given and I know that I am paying for it in the end. Also there are so many people that do not know this and do the same thing I do putting them at risk for antibiotic resistance.
I very much agree to what you are saying. surprizingly, i think this kind of proplem happens at least once in a persons life. I personally have experienced this kind of problem where i was antibiotic resistance and the first medicine did not work so the doctor had to find me another medicine in substitution to the first. In the same way, my mom faces this similar problem every once in a while, its b/c she does take her medication as perscribed.
All these is to say, i am very much aware of this issue. I wonder, what we can do about this issue to stop it from happening? Maybe create awarness to the public? Kebrewosen Densamo
densamo6
I really liked this because it deals with such a relavent topic. If bacteria become resistant to too many types of antibiotics, we will lose the ability to successfully fight bacterial infections. It's really interesting that bacteria can change and evolve so quickly to develop resistance to antibiotics. There are some grammar and sentence problems which make the information you are trying to communicate a little unclear. Other that that, I really liked this post.
Good topic! I personally believe that in most cases people take antibiotics when they are really, really not suppose to. Assume that there are people, who follow doctor’s rules by taking the prescribed antibiotic on the right time. After a while, they are actually feeling better, as you’ve mentioned in you paper. Let's assume that the same people get the same sort of sickness that they’ve experienced last year. What do you think is the number one thing that they will do? Of course, check the cabinet where all the drugs are, including the old antibiotics, which were not thrown away. Now, what do you think that most of those people will do? Go to the doctor when the antibiotic is right in front of them? But of course not! I can truly say, that if those people are feeling really sick than they will eventually take the old antibiotic because it was a doctor’s prescription. Saving the antibiotic for another time is a big problem. Some people do understand it; by way too many do not.
The information in this post addresses a highly relevant topic in public health. With the failure of the efficacy of antibiotics predicted to occur sometime in the next two decades it is a problem we all need to think about. Prof. Riley here at UMASS is working on an alternative to antibiotic resistance. Her work involves attacking bacteria at the molecular level with other molecules that might render harmful bacteria inert or unable to duplicate. It is comforting to know that someone outside of the drug companies is attempting to deal with this problem.
Catherine Stubbington
Cource Participant
I think this post was very interesting especially because I can relate to it. I was taking an antibiotic and stopped taking it before the period of time was up. The infection did not go away and I had to be prescribed a new antibiotic. I like how you provided scientific reasoning to your piece but also made it simple enough for anyone to read and understand. I think this was a great topic to write about because almost everyone can relate to taking antibiotics.
distasi6
What solutions are out there to prevent bacteria from building up resistances? What about using multiple different types of antibiotics to fight off a infection? With multiple antibiotics, wouldn’t it become much harder for bacteria to become resistant to all the different antibiotics before being killed off? Even if the bacteria was able to gain resistance to one of the antibiotics, it would be killed by another and not be able to pass the resistance gene on. Could this prevent antibiotic resistant bacteria from even evolving? Great article and well written.
Your blog caught my attention as soon as I saw the title!
I found very little details about the mechanisms of antibiotic resistance at the CDC(Center for Disease Control) website, though. Check this site from Wikipedia for mechanisms of how bacteria gains antibiotic resistance (If the hyperlink doesn't work, the URL address is at the bottom of my comment). You can also get information about resistant pathogens,phage therapy as an alternative to antibiotics, and utilizing phytochemicals to invent new antibiotics. Scientists studying phytochemicals and creating antibiotics with different structures and reaction pathways from the ones currently being used would play an important role for both human and animals.
There is also another link to “Antibiotic Resistance in Cancer Patients.”
I was surprised to know that antibiotic resistant bacteria can severely increase the cancer mortality rate and that proper usage of antibiotics is essential.
Protecting ourselves from bacterial invasion is critical, and this fight for survival between human and bacteria is going to be never-ending.
Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antibiotic_resistance
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antibiotic_Resistance_in_Cancer_Patients
Posted by clearsky83
This topic is interesting and easy to understand and relate to. My friend took nyquil every week night for almost a year to help her sleep at college, and now the same amount of it no longer helps her sleep. It seems like the body builds a resistance to many different medicines and drugs if used in excess or improperly. Also, I learned in high school that different drugs are developed that essentially do the same thing, but in a different way (for example, through a different pathway). Then, it is more difficult to build a resistance. Did you find any information pertaining to this idea? Finally, biologically speaking, what exactly happens to the body when the antibiotic becomes resistance to the bacteria? Lia Brigida
I found this article very interesting. As a pre-vet student I hear a lot about this issue in relation to animal diseases. I agree that antibiotic resistance is becoming a big problem and at times it's scary to think about what could happen if bacteria became completely resistant to the antibiotics that we have today and acted more as an untreatable virus; where we had no medications to cure or manage the bacterial infection. Today I attended the Camelid Conference where Dr. Purdy addressed issues concerning parasite resistance to vaccines rather than bacteria resistance to antibiotics. His lecture concerned a very serious alpaca illness caused by a parasite; at one point he stated that the only sure-fire way to treat these parasites, meningeal worms, is by prevention. However, by having to vaccinate monthly, the parasites are rapidly developing resistance. It was also brought up that alpaca owners who vaccinate in higher dosages (or with higher strength products) at fewer intervals during the year have parasite resistance that varies from alpacas that are vaccinated monthly with a lower dosage. Although most research concerning alpacas has not yet been fully conclusive, this seems to shadow the protocol of doctors of trying to refrain from prescribing antibiotics unless completely necessary. All in all I enjoyed this blog and it was great for me to make so many parallels between your topic and the lecture topic that I learned about today. It will be interesting to see how future research on this topic progresses and to observe any changes in pharmaceutical research and production in response to the growing rate of antibiotic resistance.
Catelyn Deschenes
deschen7
This blog is very intersting. I have learned about this topic, antibiotic resistance, but I did not learn this problem in detail.
In this blog, the process that antibiotic resistance occurs is logically written, and it is clear.
As antibiotics develop, the bacteria also evolve. Someday, will the bacteria fight off antibiotics?
Saori Toyoda
I think that the topic you have chosen is really important because of all the new diseases that are coming out everyday including the bird flu, SARs, etc. (although it is understood that antibiotics might not neccesarily cure these illnesses). I think however that you ought to go into the different types of antibiotics including penicillins, tetracyclin, macrolides, etc. and talk about each in a little detail. Perhaps their effectiveness and how people react or resist to them vary between each type of antibiotic?
Overall, the blogger wrote about a very interesting and controversial topic. I felt the writing was a little weak and more information could be added. In the same respect though, the blogger did do a good job summarizing. A question I had is where do these frog freeze? How are they safe from potential predators during the winter when their in this mode? I had no idea that this process even occured in animals. I knew about hibernation but completely freezig onself for survivals sake is astounding. I wonder why this isnt used on really sick people. Probably to do with ethics, but we obviously use it, as the blogger mentioned on tissues. I also liked how the blogger made everything clear and I didnt have to look anything up. Its very important that a write writes as though no one knows what their talking about, and I think this blogger did just that.
barness7
I actually did a research paper about antibiotic resistance for my english class last year. It is a broad subject and I think you did a great job mentioning each factor without repitition. This is a growing concern for everyone and it is something everyone should be aware of. Your paper has important points such as structly following the directions if taking medication. Perhaps you could try explaining how the bacteria duplicates itself and blocks the antibiotic?
innocen5
I find this topic very interesting. I have used my antibiotics in the past for various different purposes. I agree completely with what you are saying and the research you have found regarding this topic. I wonder if there is any way that this problem regarding antiobiotic resistance can be advertised more abundantly and that the use of many antiobiotics can be criticized. I think that people need to be aware of when and how often they are using antiobiotics. Hopefully, more blogs like yours will be posted and people will become more aware of this issue.
I have always found antibiotic resistance to be a very interesting topic. It is amazing that such a small organism has the power to overcome manmade drugs manufactured to demolish them. I feel that this problem could be solved if there was more public education on the topic between illness due to a bacterial infection versus a virus, as so many patients are not satisfied with their doctors unless they send them home with a new prescription every time they come in for an appointment for the common cold.
Also, I have noticed that college students are especially irresponsible about consuming alcohol at the time that they are on antibiotics, ignoring the label's warnings. They feel that they are only hurting themselves by doing this and therefore it is not a big deal, however, by doing this they are breeding resistant bacteria. While scientists will probably be discovering new and effective antibiotics forever, we should never take for granted the power of this small organism's evolutionary power to overcome our technology.
I think this is a very interesting post, however, I wish that there were more tips on what to avoid in order to avoid antibiotic resistance.
Antonss6
I agree with you. It's a growing problem. It's even with simple things such as anitbiotic soaps. Luckily for me, I've only had to use antibiotics once for a sinus infection. Also, the treatment worked so I didn't have to take any other medications. I'm interested in the phage therapy. What are the details of that?
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