March 6, 2015
By Medical Discovery News
The World Health Organization has categorized antibiotic resistance as “a major global threat” and multidisciplinary research teams estimate it could lead to 10 million deaths each year by 2050. Bacteria that cause disease in humans can become resistant to the drugs used to treat them, and this poses a growing problem to public health.
Antibiotics were first introduced in the 1940s with the discovery and development of penicillin and saved many people from otherwise life-threatening infections. This one class of drugs has had an incredible impact on decreasing the severity of infections and saving lives.
Lately antibiotics have become overused and misused, which has allowed bacteria to mutate in ways that render antibiotics relatively powerless. Bacteria were one of the earliest life forms on Earth and remain one of the most successful, present everywhere from Arctic glaciers to geothermal springs. Because they are masters of adaptation, exposure to antibiotics causes the bacteria to accumulate mutations that will allow them to ignore the action of the antibiotics. That’s why doctors should only prescribe an antibiotic in the likelihood of a bacterial infection, and why it’s important to take all of the prescribed doses of an antibiotic. Otherwise, you can give the bacteria enough contact with the antibiotic to mutate but not enough to kill them, and they can come back stronger.
Half the use of antibiotics does not come from a doctor’s office or hospital, but a farm. Chickens, pigs, cows, and other livestock raised for food production are fed antibiotics to prevent infections and for faster weight gain. Many countries now ban this practice, and in 2013 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) asked pharmaceutical companies to voluntarily curtail the sale of antibiotics directly to famers. Today, 26 pharmaceutical companies will only issue antibiotics for animals with a veterinarian’s prescription.
Infections by drug-resistant bacteria can be twice as likely to result in hospitalization and death. And while some bacteria are resistant to a single antibiotic, others are resistant to many. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), multi-drug-resistant Neisseria gonorrhea, and multi-drug-resistant Clostridium difficile are superbugs taking a devastating toll worldwide. Some bacteria have mutated against all forms of antibiotics normally used to treat them, leaving no effective treatment options. Such infections are occurring around the globe in both rich and developing countries.
Legislation in the U.S. Congress proposes to permanently ban antibiotics that are used in humans from being used in livestock as well. However, some argue that there is not a clear link between the antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains generated in livestock practices and those seen in human disease, which requires more intense research to answer. Whatever the outcome, the emergence and spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria must be stopped. We also desperately need to develop new antimicrobials human use.
Pamela K. Bond 