The War Against Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria
October 31, 2011, By Avery Hurt 0 comments
One of the world's most serious health concerns, and a top priority of the Center for Disease Control, is a problem you may not have heard much about: antibiotic resistance. According to the CDC, "almost every type of bacteria has become stronger and less responsive to antibiotic treatment" in recent years. While we don't have ribbons and 5K races to raise awareness of the problem, it is one that we ignore at our peril. While the specter of "superbugs" is often the stuff of alarmist books and articles, the problem is all too real.
Harmful bacteria (not all bacteria are harmful, many are even beneficial) are learning to elude our best attempts to protect ourselves. Within ten years of the widespread use of penicillin to treat infections (in the '40s) resistant strains of bacteria were showing up in hospitals. In 1961, methicillin was introduced to treat resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus, and within a year strains resistant to methicillin were turning up (the infamous MRSA).
In attempts to control MRSA, we have worked our way through a long list of antibiotics, and the race continues. But it's not just MRSA. Resistance is showing up in E. coli, salmonella and some of the bacteria that cause gonorrhea, tuberculosis, certain types of pneumonia and some ear infections—and these are just a few of the most worrisome ones.
Miracle Drugs
Before the discovery of antibiotics, doctors could do nothing more than stand by and watch as patients, often children, died of infections. Many infections, of course, did not kill. But when a bacterial infection did turn nasty, there was little that could be done other than offer supportive care and hope for a miracle.
And antibiotics were that miracle. A shot or a series of doses of these powerful new drugs have saved many a life. It is almost overwhelming to think about. Your child comes down with an illness that was once almost invariably fatal, and now it is almost a given that she will survive. In some cases she may not even miss a day of school. It is not hard to imagine that these new miracle drugs went to our heads. Patients began demanding them, and doctors began prescribing them with abandon—whether or not they were indicated for a given illness. Almost immediately bacteria began to respond.
The process of bacteria's response is quite simple really, just basic biology. A few bacteria were stronger than the rest or perhaps had a handy mutation that kept the drugs from working against them. These few survived. At first, it didn't make much difference if the odd bacterium survived the treatment. The patient still got well. However, when these microscopic survivors divided and made more versions themselves, the population of strong, "resistant" bacteria increased. It became more difficult to banish the illness. Soon we had to come up with different types of antibiotics. Of course, there were always a few bacteria who got around the variations and on it went.
In addition to having a fortuitous mutation or simply a hardier-than-average constitution, bacteria have one more trick up their tiny sleeves that gives them an even greater advantage. They can swap bits and pieces of genetic material back and forth with each other. You get one resistant bacterium, and he can share his trick with his buds. The more we use these drugs, the more chances bacteria have to refine the art of avoiding them. And we use a lot of them. It's no wonder that resistance is spreading so rapidly.
NEXT: What to Do?
