For years public health experts have been warning doctors to
cut back on the wide scale usage of antibiotics to avoid producing mutant
bacteria that are resistant to treatment.
Antibiotics not only kill infectious bacteria, but they can also wipe
out good bacteria in the gut leaving a patient prone to catch another nastier disease. Clostridium diffiicile is a common bacterium
that causes gastrointestinal distress that ranges from diarrhea to deadly
infections in the colon. Karen Anderson,
manager for infection control and protection at California Pacific Medical
Center, believes that C. difficile is the new MRSA, which is a drug resistant
staph infection. C. difficile spreads
easily and quickly, especially in the elderly; if the strain becomes resistant
like MRSA the only way to get rid of it would most likely be surgery. Researchers say that the disease is a modern
problem due to the widespread use of broad spectrum antibiotics that not only
wipe out the viruses, but other healthy bacteria in the gut that helps to fight
infections as well. Hospitals are trying
to prevent the spread of C. dificile by monitoring the amount and type of
antibiotics they give out to treat the patients. Scientist are now studying what bacteria is
needed by the gut to be healthy, with the hope of inventing a new probiotic to
maintain the good bacteria.
With all of
the medical advances that have been made over the centuries people live longer
and they tend to be healthier. A lot of
this is thanks to the development of vaccines and antibiotics that protect us
from harmful bacteria and viruses, but now partly due to survival of the
fittest and partly due to the overuse of these antibiotics bacteria are
becoming immune. It is not just in
America with the C. difficile bacteria, but all over the world new resistant strains
of bacteria are emerging. Another
example of resistant strains of bacteria is tuberculosis and resistance has
become present in malaria. Some
scientist claim that as soon as the first antibiotic was introduced bacterial
strains began to form a resistance to it because they can reproduce so quickly,
but other scientists say that it is due to the improper use of
antibiotics. Antimicrobial resistance
(bacteria, viruses, and some parasites) poses a threat of many diseases
becoming uncontrollable, which would halt and reverse the progress made towards
reaching the goal of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals set in
2015. One of the goals is to prevent
child deaths from dehydration and lack of nutrients due to chronic diarrhea,
caused by gastrointestinal bacteria like C. difficile. With resistant bacterial infections the cost
of health care will increase mainly in developed nations, due to the more
expensive means of getting rid of the infection. Precautions, such as monitoring of the types
of antibiotics given and the use of them by the patient, should be taken to
prevent the rise of antimicrobial resistance.
If infectious diseases can no longer be controlled dire consequences
will arise.
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