Antibiotic Resistance: The Growing Threat to Human Health

Antibiotic resistance is a growing problem in the world today. Antibiotics are becoming less and less effective as bacteria evolve to resist them. This poses a serious threat to human health, as common infections and diseases become harder to treat. In this blog post, we will discuss the causes of antibiotic resistance and its potential consequences for the future of human health.

What is Antibiotic Resistance?

Antibiotics, which are drugs that kill or inhibit the growth of bacteria, have been used to treat bacterial illnesses since Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928. Antibiotic resistance is caused by the overuse and misuse of antibiotics. When antibiotics are used too frequently, bacteria can evolve to become resistant to them. This resistance can then be passed on to other bacteria, making it more difficult to treat infections.

The process of natural selection is evident in the recent emergence of antibiotic resistance in bacteria. Within their vast numbers of individual cells, bacteria possess large variation in DNA due to mutations, which occur as a part of natural selection. Antibiotics kill most germs almost immediately, with only a few developing minor changes in their resistance. If the exposure to antibiotics is short, these individuals will survive the treatment. Horizontal gene transfer and genetic mutations are responsible for the bacteria's adaptation to antibiotic treatments. Horizontal gene transfer (HGT or lateral gene transfer) is the transfer of genetic material between organisms without the use of reproduction.

Antibiotics related products

Problems associated with Antibiotic Resistance

• The consequences of antibiotic resistance are serious. As common infections become harder to treat, they can pose a threat to public health. Antibiotic resistance also makes it more difficult to develop new antibiotics, as resistant strains can quickly evolve. This leaves us with fewer options for treating infections in the future.
• Antibiotics are used to strengthen the body's natural defenses. Patients using immunosuppressants to treat their transplanted organs are, by definition, immunocompromised. This is because the immune system would otherwise attack the transplant if it were not suppressed. As a result, antibiotics are used to safeguard the body. When antibiotic-resistant bacteria infect susceptible individuals, they can result in infections that the immune systems of patients are unable to handle.
• The CDC reports that many diseases that were thought to have been defeated are resurfacing. Gonorrhoea is becoming increasingly difficult to cure as a result of advances in medicine. Multi-drug resistant and super-resistant tuberculosis is becoming more prevalent around the world. The most serious hazard in the UK is opportunistic infections that reside in the stomach, such as E. coli and Klebsiella. They are now the most prevalent type of infection encountered by hospital patients. Antibiotics are no longer as effective in treating infections caused by these germs. Their bacterial composition is changing, and they're developing resistance to antibiotics.

Multidrug Resistance(MDR)

The term 'antimicrobial resistance' refers to the ability of bacteria or viruses to resist or overcome antimicrobials. Multi-drug resistance (MDR), multidrug resistance, or multi-resistance implies that a species of microorganism has proved resistant to at least one antibiotic in three or more antimicrobial categories. The terms extensively drug-resistant (XDR) and pandrug-resistant (PDR) have been created to distinguish various levels of MDR in microorganisms.

• Extensively drug-resistant (XDR): The resistance of a microbe strain to many antimicrobial chemicals in general, but not to specific ones.
• Pandrug-resistant (PDR): It is the non-susceptibility of bacteria to all antimicrobial agents in all antimicrobial categories.

Staphylococci, Enterococci, Gonorrheas, Streptococcus, Salmonellae, as well as various Gram-negative bacteria and Mycobacterium tuberculosis are among the many pathogens that have multi-drug resistance. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria can spread resistance genes to other bacteria that are not closely related, resulting in the development of antibiotic-resistant populations.

Penicillin Resistance

Bacteria can sometimes generate penicillinase, an enzyme that destroys penicillins. The bacteria have a capacity to transfer genes by means of a tiny ring of DNA known as conjugation. Certain bacteria can alter the structure of penicillin-binding proteins in their peptidoglycan wall, preventing them from binding. Bacteria have developed means to export penicillins. Bacteria have efflux pumps, which they use to extrude chemicals from the cell. Certain of these pumps can be repurposed to assist the cell in eliminating penicillins.

Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus

The new strains of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) have developed resistance against the next generation of antibiotics. Most MRSA infections are contracted in hospital. They can be deadly, but are typically treatable with antibiotics that target MRSA.

Drug resistant Tuberculosis

TB (tuberculosis) is an infectious disease caused by bacteria. It's usually caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which infects people through the air or through their skin. Coughs, sneezing, and other respiratory symptoms are common. The illness affects the lungs and other parts of the body in some people. The disease can be transmitted via airborne routes, from one person to another.

Drug-resistant TB is a significant public health problem in many developing countries, since the treatment is more time-consuming and expensive. MDR-TB is a TB infection that is resistant to the two most effective first-line drugs: rifampicin and isoniazid. E. coli is resistant to many different types of antibiotic, such as seen in the case of extensively drug-resistant TB, which is also resistant to three or more of the six classes of second-line antibiotics. If you have a drug-resistant TB strain, it's possible that treatment will need to include 6 or more distinct medicines.

TB resistant to all currently available medications was first identified in Italy in 2003, but it wasn't made public until 2012. It is immune to all existing medications. Multi-drug resistant and extremely-drug resistant tuberculosis is becoming more prevalent around the world.

Tests for checking Antibiotic Ressistance

• The standard approach for detecting drug resistance is to take a sample from a wound, blood, or urine and expose resident bacteria to various medicines. If the bacterial colony continues to divide and thrive despite the presence of a normally effective drug, it indicates the microbes are drug-resistant.
• The disk diffusion test (also known on as the Kirby–Bauer test, disc-diffusion antibiotic susceptibility test, disc-diffusion antibiotic sensitivity test, and KB test) is a culture-based microbiology assay used in diagnostic and drug discovery laboratories. In diagnostic labs, the test is used to identify whether bacteria isolated from a patient's infection are susceptible to clinically approved antibiotics. In diagnostic laboratories, the test is performed by inoculating the surface of an agar plate with bacteria isolated from a patient's infection. Paper disks impregnated with antibiotics are then dropped onto the agar and incubated. If an antibiotic kills the bacteria, there will be a zone of non-growth surrounding the disk. This is called a zone of inhibition.

Antibiotic resistance is a growing problem that we must address if we want to protect our health in the future. We need to be careful about how we use antibiotIcs, and make sure that we are only using them when necessary. We also need to continue to develop new antibiotics, so that we can keep up with the evolving threat of antibiotic resistance. By being careful about how we use antibiotics, and by continuing to develop new antibiotics, we can help slow down the spread of antibiotic resistance. With these measures, we can protect our health today and into the future.