The Antibiotic Resistance: “The Causes, Effects, and Resolution of a Growing Epidemic.”

Hassan Fayyaz | Armela Singh | Yerinets Garcia | Karen Chavez | Steven DeFilippo

City College of New York

Abstract:

Inquiry Question: Should antibiotic resistance still be used for treatment?Thesis – The excessive use of antibiotics pessimistically causes complications in human health and global issues such as severe infections, over-prescribe medication and costly health care.

Primary Purpose: Explore the issues of antibiotic resistance within society including solutions.

Explore: What is antibiotic and its function? What is the effectiveness of treating bacteria over the years? Is antibiotics resistance a major upcoming global problem, if so, what alternatives should we use? Are doctors over-prescribing antibiotics? Is public aware of excessive use of antibiotics?

Argument: Doctors tend to prescribe antibiotics for any illness. The consistent use of antibiotics increases the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the human body. Furthermore, we can use alternative solutions, which can do the same job as antibiotics without causing serious health risks.

Prior belief/knowledge: Antibiotics prevents and fights bacteria from multiplying in the body. People with spinal cord injury and disorders are at increased risk of antibiotic resistance, which is due to recurrent infections and subsequent use of antibiotics. However, studies have not been done regarding the perception of patients towards these antibiotic medicines.

The Antibiotics Resistance

Proposal

Throughout time, medicine has been developed and refined into many different forms that include pills, injections, physical treatments, and much more. Scientists have developed drug therapies with the sole objective to better its host and increase their mortality rate. The human anatomy is a homologous system that is always growing and evolving itself continuously, learning how to defend from external dangers such as prokaryotes that subsidize bacteria and cyanobacteria. With the development of antibiotics, the human race has been able to achieve a biological shield against these nuisances. However, there’s been an increasing concern for the effectiveness of these drugs because the very organisms (prokaryotes) they are created for have achieved their own means of resistance as a result of the mass consumption of antibiotics.

The purpose of this paper is to raise awareness of bacterial resistance to antibiotics and how the evolution of bacteria has become a threat to our body’s defenses and to the general population’s health. As well as to show the negative effects of continuously giving a large scale the same antibiotics to humans. The paper will comment and propose possible solutions to this epidemic to raise political and social awareness of its severity. The use of antibiotics has been an active treatment against bacterial infection for a great amount of time, however, due to its failing ineffectiveness, one could infer that its methods are outdated and pose more harm than good to any who receive antibiotic treatment.

Summary and Background Information

 Antibiotic resistance is regarded officially as the “biggest public health challenge of our time” (CDC, 2018). Antibiotics have been used to treat most bacteria related infections starting with the first one being penicillin, introduced by Alexander Fleming in 1929 (FDA, 2016). In the 1940’s, penicillin was widely used, especially during World War 2 for infected wounds. “The Miracle Drug” opened the development of more fermentation processes for new and faster production of antibiotics. However, with this increasing popularity and mass-production of antibiotics, bacteria began to become resistant to the antibiotics whose original purpose is to combat and weaken the bacteria. For example, as mentioned in the article, “Battle of the Bugs: Fighting Antibiotic Resistance” presented by the FDA, “Just a few years after the first antibiotic, penicillin, became widely used in the 1940s, penicillin-resistant infections emerged that were caused by the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus” (FDA, 2016). Shockingly, one of the best and first known antibiotics, as well as many antibiotics to follow, were beginning to lose their effectiveness due to the evolution of bacterium. The antibiotic resistance is said to have been born following the mass consumption of antibiotics during the world war and is still a significant topic in our world today and could even become a global conflict in our future if no measures are taken to prevent the growing resistance.

Antibiotics resistance (or antimicrobial resistance), occurs as the result of a mutation in the DNA of the bacteria or present bacteria being influenced by newly transformed bacteria that are already resistant to the antibodies. The bacteria as it develops new enzymes break apart the antibiotics, rendering them useless. Due to the mass production of antibiotics for over the past 50 years, many other possible treatments to cure these certain illnesses are lost because of the huge focus on the new ineffective antibiotics to treat them. The antibiotic resistance is gaining awareness in part to encourage new research to challenge the evolution of bacteria. Every year in the United States, “2 million people get an antibiotic-resistant infection, and at least 23,000 people die” (CDC, 2016). The issue is known to have an impact on today’s society as well as its future. Therefore, organizations like the CDC, stress that collaborative efforts, by the public and other world organizations be made to diminish this global crisis.

The antibiotic resistance is beginning to be an acknowledged issue in our society with the help of increased awareness within our science and news communities. The issue focuses on the causes of the resistance, primarily the overuse of antibiotics as well as the evolution of bacterium increasing at a higher rate against the production of antibiotics. When sickness becomes too problematic, many resorts to antibiotics. When a drug is overused, it loses its effectiveness as the bacteria adapt or mutates and, in a sense, overpowers the drug. However, many debates that bacteria will inevitably become these “superbugs” resistant to any drug, regardless if we reduce and regulate the number of antibiotics we consume. Either or, the increasing resistance to antibiotics is a major issue since this adaptation causes the bacteria to strengthen, ultimately making it more difficult to treat and can thus lead to fatal circumstances, or worse, a worldwide epidemic. Although there is some controversy over the cause of the resistance to antibiotics, it is obvious that the main focus should be the impact it will have on global health, and the ways in which we act to prevent progression in infections and diseases. As awareness increases, new scientific solutions, other than antibiotics or even renovations to the antibiotic development process, will aid in the fight against bacteria.

The resistance to antibiotics has created an enormous threat to global health and has presented financial issues. Excessive use of antibiotics pessimistically causes complications including severe infections such as pneumonia, tuberculosis, blood poisoning, and gonorrhea. These infections are more of a hassle to treat as antibiotics are becoming increasingly ineffective. The reason for this is because people are unaware of the use of antibiotics. People can buy “over the counter” medications without a prescription needed. Individuals are not properly regulating the amount of medication they consume and as a result, are aiding in the resistance of bacteria to antibiotics. The overuse of medication is also leading to an increased death rate because no formal treatment guidelines are available for the use of antibiotics (WHO, 2018). The antibiotic resistance has not only costed lives but has also, unfortunately, resulted in a financial burden to the human health care system.

These consequences will continue to grow if there are no serious actions taken by the nation. This calls for a drastic change in the global community. We individuals including, policymakers, health professionals, and the healthcare industry must work together as a nation to spread awareness of antibiotic resistance and prevent infections from taking away even more lives. Therefore, serious regulations need to be made to create a safer environment for global health and economic stability.

Resistance has developed in bacteria over the years as the issue of having no medication for bacterial resistance to antibiotics has shown little promise. Hospitals have become the hostess of this problem because of the over-prescription of antibiotics to patients, which suggest that doctors prescribe antibiotics to prevent the spread of antibiotic resistance. Previous studies have shown in the article, “Impact of an Antimicrobial Stewardship Programmed on Antibiotic Usage and Resistance in a Tertiary Hospital in China”, prescribing antibiotics as high as 70% in hospitals, increases the resistant bacteria.

Methods and Material

The overuse of antibiotics constructed a study that would change the policies to regulate the number of antibiotics used by doctors to manage the resistance in bacteria. This experiment explains the preventions that can be taken for bacteria developing mutations to become resistance. While the research conducted, regulated the antibiotics doctors were prescribing their patients, other alternatives to treat infections were not explored during the experiment. One approach for addressing this issue is to bring about different means to prevent the spread of bacterial resistance to antibiotics.  The aim of this research, to access the problem of antibiotics resistance by using different methods of preventions. These methods will include policies to restrict consumptions, a form of treating infectious diseases, and the overall knowledge the world has surrounding antibiotics.

Resistant bacteria are now a critical problem in our societies usually caused by the overuse, misuse and lack of medical advancements. It is publicly stated that “A 2011 national survey of infectious-disease specialists, conducted by the IDSA Emerging Infections Network, found that more than 60% of participants had been seen a pan-resistant, untreatable bacterial infection within the prior year” (Ventola, 2015). When bacteria develop resistance to antibiotics, there arises a need for new medical advancement for the prevention of bacterial infections. As mentioned before, Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) is a bacterium found on skin cells, which is a cause of staph infection and can lead to sepsis or death. Sepsis is basically the malfunctioning of organs or organ cells in human bodies and is not so easily treatable with antibiotics. The World Health Organization (WHO) recalls, “In the U.S., 11, 285 deaths per year have been attributed to MRSA alone” (Ventola, 2015). MRSA is just one type of bacteria that has resulted in thousands of deaths, but the total number of deaths from bacteria is even higher. Though solving antibiotic resistance problem seems difficult and unresolvable, studies have been conducted so that the prevention of medical problems caused by bacteria is possible. Moreover, the use of antibiotic medicines is not only harmful just in terms of health, but also puts a huge financial burden on our societies, as previously stated. To resolve this problem of antibiotics resistance, we need to take strict actions at an individual level, introduce new policies, improve the healthcare industry, and guide health care professionals.

For us to prevent antibiotic resistance problem on an individual level, we need to take some serious precautions. These precautionary measures include; the use of antibiotic medicines only if prescribed by a specialist, do not share or use leftover medicines, washing hands, eating food prepared hygienically, staying up to date with vaccination, staying away from sick people and lastly practicing safe sex. (WHO, 2018)

By taking precautionary measures at an individual level, we can decrease the risk of many harmful diseases. Still, there remains a threat to human life, but if we change political policies regarding antibiotics resistance, we can prevent this problem to a greater extent. Making a national health action plan, which sets limitations on the use of antibiotics while simultaneously making sure antibiotics are up to date, can ultimately stop the problem of antibiotics resistance. For us to develop a national action plan we need to inform our societies, so they can take direct action towards this problem.

Spreading awareness among our communities is extremely important for us since informing people about the pros and cons of antibiotics can result in limited use of them. To inform our communities regarding the misuse of antibiotics and its negative effects, we can spread this message through broadcast media and print media. Broadcast media includes television, radio, and internet. Among all the broadcast mediums, the internet is the most successful since it directly influences the perspective of the youth. According to a recent survey conducted by the United States Department of Health and human services (HHS), “More than half (56%) of teens — defined in this report as those ages 13 to 17 — go online several times a day, and 12% report once-a-day use. Just 6% of teens report going online weekly, and 2% go online less often” (Lenhart, 2015). On the other hand, print media includes newspapers, books, and magazines. More often, people tend to perceive print media to be a more reliable source of information then broadcast, making it a viable source to raise awareness on the antibiotic resistance issue. According to a recent survey, 82% of U.S citizens trust print media more than broadcast media because they perceive broadcast to be too mainstream (Sherpa, 2018)

After the information has been advertised through both broadcast and print media, we would now have a higher probability of changing our environment because our efforts could be seen by elite organizations, Senate members, Congressman’s, Supreme Court and the United States President. Which suggests that as the problem would be more recognized, the government and organizations could attempt to supply money to help the effort to find an alternative to antibiotics, which would finally pacify the issue.

As more money would be funded to the medical field, more advancement could be made and hopefully, antibiotics would be replaced by another type of medicine or treatment. Media is a strong tool to enact reform and it would also provide a guideline to medical professionals to perform their job in a more precautioned way by eliminating risky antibiotic use, rather than following the faulty perception that an influx of antibiotics is what is best for an ill patient.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this article has proposed some major repercussions caused by antibiotic resistance and in response presented some valuable solutions to the conflict. Antibiotic resistance has caused several deaths, produced numerous complications in patients, and has been a financial burden to the healthcare industry, which provides us with enough incentive to minimize antibiotic use. Media is one of the strongest tools of the 21st century and if used appropriately it could benefit our societies by raising awareness about the increasing resistance to antibiotics. Today, it is easier than ever to spread a message across the globe and if we all put forward our efforts, antibiotics, the treatment originally meant to aid us, would no longer harm our society. Imagine, the difference society can make together if we all stand for the preservation of our health and make simple collaborative efforts to save humanity. In life, the things we hold to be our saviors can turn against us, but we must be prepared to face every challenge that is thrown at us and execute practical solutions for the continuation of our survival in this unpredictable world.

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