...Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Kwame D. Brooks BIO/101 October 16, 2014 Prof. Rafael Frim Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Even though the indiscriminate use of antibiotics is enhanced by their free and uncontrolled availability ‘across the counter’, particularly in developing and Third World countries where regulatory mechanisms leave much to be desired. Alternately, even in developed countries, there is a clear connection between overall antibiotic intake and the rate of recurrence of the discovery of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. According to Barry Commoner, “First law of ecology: ‘Everything is related to everything else’.” As such, these antibiotic-resistant bacteria evolves into a most important health problem that becomes the foundation for some patients to be incurable to previously treated infections because the development of antibiotic resistance. This is primarily due to disproportionate and often superfluous use of antibiotics in humans and animals. According to G. Gopal Rio “Risk factors for the spread of resistant bacteria in hospitals and the community can be summarized as overcrowding, lapses in hygiene or poor infection control practices. Increasing antibiotic resistance in bacteria has been exacerbated by the slow pace in developing newer antibiotics and bacteria can be innately resistant or may acquire resistance to antibiotics” (1998). In essence, these two types of conflict are probably in the same way significant in the perspective of the management...
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...Antibiotic resistant bacteria Microbes are all around us, they pretty much fill our whole world. They are in the air we breathe, the food we eat and even in our bodies. There is different types of microbes such as algae, fungi, protozoa, viruses and bacteria, they all have a different functions and structures. But the one microbe that is becoming a threat to us is bacteria because it is becoming antibiotic resistant, which means to us this is going to become a very big problem. Antibiotic resistant bacteria occurs when strains of bacteria in us humans start to become resistant to the antibiotic we take due to improper use or abuse of the drug. Like when you are prescribed a certain antibiotic and you take it for only for a few days instead of going through the whole course, you may have killed some of the bacteria, but some of it still lives. That small amount of bacteria that is partially alive is going to end up becoming resistant to that antibiotic and we don’t want that to happen because then the bacteria can then start multiplying and replacing all the killed bacteria with a new stronger type of bacteria that is going to harder and much more expensive to kill. . Also the antibiotic resistant bacteria is very dangerous because it can spread very quickly between your family members, schools, or co-workers, which will threaten everybody lives. One dangerous antibiotic resistant bacteria that exist today is methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or better known as...
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...Week 3 Antibiotic-resistant essay Are antibiotic-resistant bacteria on the rise? Well in the study we just finished there are some very compelling evidence that points to yes. However depending on how you look at the last study the information may be that the rise of resistance is in direct correlation with the amount of the antibiotics that are being used. For example we will start with some of the evidence given in the investigation. First is the problem with the finding of new classes of antibiotics. From the 1930s to the 1970s discovery of classes were fairly similar increasing every decade up to the 1970s. After the 1970a the discovery of new classes of antibiotics fell drastically. A known worry is that if new classes can not be created then eventually antibiotics will be depleted. Also the investigation states that once a strain builds resistance to a type of antibiotic of a class that all types of the class are resisted. The next study of a Erythromycin from 1976-1988 that dosage of that particular antibiotic tripled in just twelve years. The study shows that over the course of those years bacteria became more resistant over the study. Next we looked into the prevalence of resistant bacteria in relation to prescriptions. Over a four year study from 1995-1998 the percentage of resistant bacteria rose 5%. This shows us that the more antibiotics prescribed will result in a increasing number of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. This is unsettling considering the amount of...
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...What Can We Do About Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Giana Dominguez SCI 214 September 04, 2013 Gloria Young, PhD After reading the information in this assignment and looking at the plot values I honestly still do not understand everything that I read. So I will try to write this summary the best that I possibly can. What I understood from my reading was that antibiotics have been in development over the last eighty years. Antibiotics help fight infections we get from bacteria. Antibiotics come in different classes to fight multiple strains of a bacterial infection (Cummings). I also learned that over the years new antibiotic development has become slower. Over the last eighty years bacteria has become sort of built up immunity to some antibiotics. Not all infections can be treated with the same antibiotics. Sometimes a prescribed antibiotic does not cure an infection. I know this from my own personal experience. I had to have surgery. After the surgery I had gotten an infection and was given an antibiotic. The infection I had was resistant to the type of antibiotic that I was given. The antibiotic actually made my infection worse. The symptoms I felt at the beginning of my infection caused me so much more pain. I had to be put on a different class of antibiotic. The second antibiotic I was given was stronger and it was hopefully supposed to cure my infection. The new antibiotic cured the infection I had gotten but I had developed another infection and had to be put on...
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...Complete the MasteringBiology Ch. 1 Activity: You Decide: What Can We Do About Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria? Write a 500- to 700-word essay from your investigation. You are required to answer various questions throughout the investigation. At the end of the activity, you will be required to take a quiz. This quiz consists of one essay question. Copy your essay into a Microsoft® Word document. Click the Assignment Files tab to submit your assignment. Question to be answer according with each page above 1 – What does the second bar represent? a. The number os classes of antibiotics developed in the 1930s b. The number of classes of antibiotics available in the 1930s c. The number of classes of antibiotics developed in the 1940s d. The number of classes of antibiotics available in the 1940s 2 – What does the Y-axis represent? a. The total number of antibiotics consumed b. The total number of erythromycin closes consumed c. The number of erythromycin doses consumed per day d. The number of erythromycin doses consumed per 1000 people per day 3 – What does the pink bar in the last cluster of bars represent? a. The percentage of bacteria resistant to penicillin in 1995 b. The percentage of bacteria resistant to 3 or more antibiotics in 1995 c. The percentage of bacteria resistant to penicillin in 1998 d. The percentage of bacteria resistant to 3 or more antibiotics in 1998 4 – What does the Y-axis represent? a. Percentage...
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...extreme phenotype is favored and the distribution curve shifts in that direction. Such a shift can occur when a population is adapting to a changing environment. Resistance to antibiotics and insecticides are examples of directional selection. The widespread use of antibiotics and insecticides (pesticides) results in populations of bacteria and insects that are resistant to these chemicals. When an antibiotic is administered, some bacteria may survive because they are genetically resistant to the antibiotic. These bacteria are most likely to pass on their genes to the next generation. Result, the number of bacteria keeps in increasing. Drug-resistant strains of bacteria that cause tuberculosis have now become a serious threat to the health of people worldwide. Because the genes of bacteria are varied, it is likely that there are some bacteria that carry genes which allow them to survive or resist antibiotics, because these genes allow them to survive they are likely to reproduce, more likely to reproduce with other bacteria of their species with the same gene that allows resistance to the antibiotic. This means that more of their offspring will also carry those genes and again reproduce and continue to pass on those genes. Over time, more bacteria will contain DNA with genes allowing them to resist antibiotics and continue to reproduce. Because mutations do occur, it is possible to mutate genes to make them more or less fit for survival. Evolution / development does not occur in...
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...Reducing the Use of Antibiotics Antibiotics are created using natural substances which bacteria secrete to kill other bacteria when forced to compete for limited nutrients. The first antibiotic, Penicillin, was discovered in the 1928 by Alexander Fleming and began being mass produced by the 1940’s. Within the same decade, resistant strains of bacteria began to appear. (1) Since then, 18 dangerous drug-resistant superbugs have been discovered (according to the CDC). A bacterium is referred to as a ‘superbug’ if it carries several resistant genes within its DNA. (2) Bacteria can become resistant to antibiotics primarily through two ways: by mutation or by horizontal gene transfer, in which bacteria share resistant genes with other bacteria essentially swapping out portions of their DNA for mutated sections. Antibiotics kill bacteria by binding to the cells protein so that the protein cannot function properly, hindering the bacteria from growing and reproducing. If the bacteria contains mutated portions of DNA, the antibiotic cannot bind to the altered protein and the bacteria won’t be affected. Due to natural selection, the bacteria that survived, the mutated bacteria, will be left to grow and reproduce and all that will remain will be the antibiotic resistant bacteria. (1) There continues to be an increase in antibiotic resistant bacteria due to a variety of reasons, mainly the over-prescription of antibiotics, the misuse of antibiotics (such as not taking them...
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...Antibiotics: A Harmful Misused Product Today, the human race has way too much reliance on antibiotics and products associated with them. Many people are extremely unaware of what can happen if antibiotics are overused or used incorrectly. Nobody allows their body to heal itself. In certain cases antibiotics should be used to help cure one of an infection but not in the ways they are used today. Antibiotics can be found in many household that includes mostly all wipes and sprays. Antibiotics being included in all of these products can do nothing but hurt one in the long run. Placing antibiotics in cleaning appliances can cause all bacteria to become immune and change so that the antibiotic becomes unproductive and the bacterium becomes stronger. Antibiotics are used for anything from cuts to strep throat and pneumonia and have been for a very long time. They are becoming impotent because they are used incorrectly by nearly everyone: doctors, patients, and even people raising animals for meat. The misuse would be prescribing the drugs completely incorrectly. In doing this, superbugs are produced and they are extremely antibiotic resistant and almost impossible to stop. Antibiotics also kill some of the good and helpful bacteria inside of the body which may allow resistant bacteria to fill in. The human body itself has sets up its own defenses with pathogens and other walls that fight and harmful bacteria off without any use of antibiotics. It is very faulty to overuse any type...
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...Introduction An antibiotic is one of wonderful and vital discoveries of 20th century which was first proposed by Selman Waksman. Although being astonishing discovery, the real wonder is rise of antibiotic resistance in communities, environment and hospitals with their extensive use. The outstanding microbe’s genetic capacities have gained a lot of benefit from overuse of antibiotics by human being which has let to exploitation of every resistance source of genes and every horizontal gene transmission means for development of various resistance mechanisms for each and every antibiotic that has been introduced agriculturally, clinically or otherwise in practice. The underlying paper discusses antibiotics, antibiotic resistance, background of...
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...Antibiotic Resistance Xzaviette Hill BIO/101 November 3, 2014 The first antibiotic was developed by Alexander Fleming in 1929. Since then, antibiotics have revolutionized the medical field. They were so revolutionary that many proclaimed them as a “wonder drug.” Many illnesses that were considered incurable became easily cured. So, what is an antibiotic? Well, an antibiotic is a medicine that can kill, or inhibit the growth or reproduction of, microorganisms. Antibiotics are used to treat bacterial infections alone; they have no effect on viral or fungal infections. The 1930’s marked the beginning of the antibiotic revolution. Since then, antibiotics have been used to fight off various bacterial diseases including, pneumonia, tuberculosis, leprosy, and typhus. These diseases can be fatal. Typhus alone has a mortality rate of 70% when left untreated. Yes, antibiotics have saved many lives. Nonetheless, antibiotics are by no means infallible. In recent years, a new problem has manifested; some bacteria have become resistant to antibiotics. Doctors have discovered that over-prescription contributes to the evolution of antibiotic- resistant bacteria. Over- prescription is the excessive prescription of a medication. Antibiotic over- prescription occurs when physicians prescribe antibiotics for small infections that the body could have otherwise fought off itself or for viral and fungal infections that, as I stated before, can’t be treated with antibiotics. The issue of over-...
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...Antibiotic resistance — what is it and why is it a problem? The development of antibiotics was one of the most important advances of medicine. Many bacterial infections (e.g. tuberculosis and infected wounds) that had previously had no effective treatment and often killed people, became treatable with antibiotics, saving millions of lives. Now, because of the overuse and misuse of antibiotics, bacterial infections that were once easily cured with antibiotics are becoming harder to treat. This is due to antibiotic resistance. The World Health Organization has called this one of the biggest threats to human health today. What is antibiotic resistance? Antibiotic resistance happens when bacteria change to protect themselves from an antibiotic. They are then no longer sensitive to that antibiotic. When this happens, antibiotics that previously would have killed the bacteria, or stopped them from multiplying, no longer work. What are ‘superbugs’? ‘Superbugs’ are bacteria that are resistant to several different antibiotics. The methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteria commonly found in hospitals, and the bacteria that cause tuberculosis (Mycobacterium tuberculosis), are now very hard to treat because of antibiotic resistance. Strains of Escherichia coli (E. coli) — the bacteria that causes many urinary tract infections — have also developed resistance to a number of antibiotics. How does antibiotic resistance affect me? Using antibiotics when you don’t...
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...with a bacteria. The pain has spread and the fever also increased as the cause of the bacteria. She was immediately placed on antibiotics, the next morning she needed[ES1] oxygen mask and was later diagnosed with pneumonia when they examine a part of her lungs. She had infected boils over her body which were a result of the Staphylococcus bacteria causing septic shock; which is a widespread infection causing organ failure and low blood pressure. Which was pattern recognized in association with community-associated MRSA, which a person can get infected by coming in contact with a contaminated object in the environment, an example would be a kid picking the bacteria in a playground with a scraped knee. In Addie’s case, she was a skin picker, she as many kids picked at their scabs which were most likely what introduced the staph infection. MRSA is a staph bacteria that causes infection resistant to infections....
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...wastewater treatment plants were suspected to be reservoirs for antibiotic resistant bacteria so a study was conducted. In the study, two samples were collected from a local Wastewater Treatment Plant. The samples were taken at different stages of treatment so one of the samples in the study is untreated, and should contain a greater amount of antibiotic resistant bacteria and the sample that is further along in treatment phase should contain a smaller number of antibiotic resistant samples. The study should demonstrate that, as the wastewater moves through the stages of treatment, less antibiotic resistant bacteria should be detected. The samples should demonstrate that even with treatment, there are still antibiotic resistant bacteria present. Two samples were collected from a local Wastewater Treatment Plant and were taken back to the lab where further study could be done on the types of bacteria that were present. The samples were taken at different stages of treatment. The purpose of this study was to determine what, if any types of antibiotic resistant bacteria were present in the wastewater. The samples taken were processed in the lab, and then agar plated to produce colonies. The colonies were separated using the quadrant streak method to grow individual colonies. These individual colonies were sampled with inoculating needles to determine if there were any single bacterial colony present that was antibiotic resistant. The concentration of ARB was way greater in the semi-treated...
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...more scientist were gaining more knowledge as to how to control the pandemic outbreaks that were happening across the country. At first, diseases were controlled by vaccines; but in 1923 Alexander Flemming had discovered a natural resource that inhibited bacterial growth. Mold that had grown in a dish opened the door to antibiotics. Since then, microbes have been fought off by using natural resources. In the past, antibiotics were successful in eliminating diseases by affecting the causative agent in various different ways. Some ways that antibiotics kill bacteria is by releasing chemicals that hinder DNA synthesis, disrupting metabolic activities of the bacterium cell which in turn does not allow the bacterium to reproduce but instead kills it. However, because bacteria have been exposed to certain drugs, some of these organisms have become resistant to specific antibiotics. To fight this dilemma, scientist have to find different ways to battle the organisms not only by using natural sources such as molds, and other bacteria, but also by producing antibiotics chemically in the lab. Introduction The purpose of our experiment was to decipher which bacteria would have...
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...Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection is produced by a strain of staph bacteria that's become resistant to the antibiotics generally used to treat normal staph infections. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was first discovered in 1961. Today In present time MRSA has turned out to be a dangerous health problem, Bacteria are always altering because of genetic reasons and the continustened change. Therefore, because of the change numerous bacteria begin to increase the resistant to a specific antibiotic. As soon as the less resistant and weaker bacteria come into contect with that identical antibiotic, and so they stop living. However, the resistant and more stronger bacteria remain before they disappear. If these more tougher and stronger bacteria happen to live then they can duplicate. The newly Once more the dublicated bacteria hold the same to the antibiotic and extra variations diffrenceces in their genetic influence refer that a large number of these off-spring bacteria will be even morestronger and tougher. As time goes on, the frequently change of bacteria genetics and the population favoring of one form of a medication over another has indicated to the more thougher and stronger types of Staphylococcus aurous. But normally these though forms are only stronger of one or two antibiotics; nevertheless, MRSA is frequently indicated to as the “superbug” because it can be thouhger to even more antibiotics. ("What...
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