What Is Antibiotic Resistance And Why Does It Occur?

World Antimicrobial Awareness Week (Waaw)

One of the primary goals of these strategies is to raise antimicrobial resistance awareness and understanding through effective communication, education, and training. The Tripartite Executive Committee decided to set all future World Antimicrobial Awareness Week (WAAW) dates as 18 to 24 November.

What Is Antibiotic Resistance And Why Does It Occur? 

Antibiotic medications can both prevent and treat bacterial infections. Antibiotic resistance emerges as microorganisms adjust to antibiotic usage.

Bacteria generate antibiotic resistance, not humans or other animals. These germs can infect both people and animals, and their diseases are more challenging to treat than those caused by non-resistant bacteria. Increased mortality, longer hospital stays, and higher medical costs are all effects of antibiotic resistance.

The world needs to start using and prescribing antibiotics differently right away. Even with the development of new drugs, antibiotic resistance will remain a significant issue. Aside from changing behaviours, people must also take steps to prevent the spread of diseases by getting vaccinated, cleaning their hands, engaging in safer sex, and maintaining proper food hygiene.

Antibiotic Resistance: What Is It?

Antibiotics are drugs that eradicate microorganisms. Some of these microorganisms may eventually develop immunity to these medications. They might undergo a modification that prevents antibiotics from killing them. Antibiotic resistance is the word for this situation.

Bacteria are tiny organisms. They can get inside of you. Some of them are risk-free and might even be beneficial. Some of these microorganisms, though, can be dangerous. These can result in sickness when they grow in number inside your body.

Before the invention of antibiotics, bacterial infections frequently made people severely ill. Many of these infections can now be easily treated thanks to these medications.

Worldwide, there is a severe problem with antibiotic resistance. It may result in diseases that are extremely challenging to treat. In certain situations, conventional antibiotics used to treat an illness may no longer be effective. Other medications might also be ineffective. Antibiotic resistance is consequently spreading more widely.

What Causes An Issue With Antibiotic Resistance?

Until we treat a patient, we are unaware that antibiotic resistance has occurred. The antibiotic that had been effective in the past abruptly loses its effectiveness. While you wait to understand what is going on, your condition worsens. An infection that was previously manageable at home may need hospitalization.

What Causes Antibiotic Resistance?

• Does the development of antibiotic-resistance genes or alterations in the DNA of the bacterium cause antibiotic resistance? With the use of horizontal gene transfer from different bacterial species.
• Due to these alterations, the bacteria are now able to resist the effects of antibiotics that are intended to kill them.
• Accordingly, when an antibiotic is administered, all bacteria that have not acquired a mutation are killed, while antibiotic-resistant bacteria are untouched.
• The antibiotic-resistant bacteria can keep reproducing and expanding to create additional bacteria that are resistant to the antibiotic.
• Due to the existence of bacterial strains that are resistant to antibiotics or other medications intended to kill them, they can spread quickly and endanger the public’s health.
• When this occurs, researchers must create brand-new antibiotics that the bacteria are not resistant to.

How Are Diseases Resistant To Antibiotics Identified?

Your healthcare provider could take a sample of the tissue that is affected and send it to a lab. There, the infection’s type can be identified. Tests can also show which medications are most efficient at killing the bacteria. If you don’t recover after receiving therapy with conventional antibiotics, you might have an illness that is resistant to such drugs.

How Can Antibiotic Resistance Be Combated?

A global concern is an antibiotic resistance. Interventions can be broadly divided into two types of strategies. First, there are tactics designed to safeguard already-existing antibiotics and stop the establishment and spread of new forms of resistance. Then there are methods for reviving drug development and introducing fresh antibiotics to the market. Alternatives to the existing antibiotic regimen should also be considered, whether they involve the creation of new drug classes, the use of vaccinations, or other treatment approaches.

1. A) Techniques for safeguarding antibiotics, a finite resource, and halting the emergence and spread of new resistance
2. B) Revitalizing drug development processes and launching new antibiotics

WHO Reaction: 

The WHO has made combating drug resistance a top priority. At the World Health Assembly in May 2015, a worldwide action plan on antibiotic resistance and other forms of antimicrobial resistance was approved. The worldwide action plan aims to guarantee the use of secure and efficient medications in the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases.

Conclusion:

Antibiotic resistance is a significant public health issue that requires immediate attention.

It may not be possible to completely eradicate antibiotic resistance, and in many cases, the trend toward ever-increasing resistance cannot be stopped, but we must unavoidably slow it down. A single nation cannot do this by effort or action. It is essential to have the assistance and involvement of the political, medical, veterinary, agricultural, environmental, academic, business, and general public sectors. Politics play a role in this problem, and various organizations are considering potential fixes. It is also unclear whether international attempts to improve the situation can be adequately coordinated.