“How do bacteria (and viruses and fungi and…) become resistant to antibiotics and how we can stop it”
by Jen Sibley ~ March 11th, 2009. Filed under: Uncategorized.Julian Davies
FACTS:
1. When antibiotics were first introduced into clinical practice, most pathogens were sensitive and were killed. That is the patients were cured.
2. As more and more antibiotics have been developed and used, the success rate has decreased; the pathogens are becoming less susceptible (in other words they are becoming resistant to antibiotics).
3. Doctors and patients are dependent on antibiotics for curing infectious diseases.
4. New antibiotics are hard to find and their development is very time consuming and expensive (10 years, up to $1,000,000,000!).
5. Bacteria and other microbes were the original inhabitants of the earth (3.5 billion years ago) and they are also expected to be the only survivors. Bacteria have survived many threats to their existence during this time.
QUESTIONS:
1. How did bacteria avoid the threat of killing by antibiotics?
2. Is it possible to find new antibiotics that will work against resistant strains?
3. Is it possible to maintain the usefulness of existing antibiotics?
4. Will we perish if there are no new antibiotics?
5. What can ordinary people (like us) do?
6. Can good microbiology save us?
7. Are bacteria bound to win?
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October 9th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
I think we’ve unfortunately found ourselves on a losing track. The original pursuit of antibiotics was a noble goal and led to the saving of many lives. However, now we must continually seek new antibiotics because the current pathogenic bacteria keep mutating to avoid our means of killing them. Our only hope may be in re-adjusting the biomedical paradigm. Recognizing these bacteria as merely invaders ignores their role in horizontal gene transfers and other evolutionary processes. As a species we might have to adjust our lifestyles and personal practices to avoid being a substrate for these bugs to grow on.