Antibiotic resistance: mechanisms, prevalence, and clinical implications

Antibiotic resistant organisms has become a topic of much debate in recent years. Antibiotic resistance is a serious concern because of the health care implications that occur as a result of this problem. The purpose of this discussion is to explain antibiotic resistance development in humans. The research will also provide a General overview of specific strains, causes and effects.

Antibiotic Resistance Development

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention antibiotics or antimicrobial drugs are drugs that fight infections that occur as a result of bacteria (. The CDC explains that once antibiotic resistance takes place the bacteria or other microbes has become resistant to the curing effects of the antibiotic. This simply means that antibiotics that were once used to cure bacterial infections no longer work. The CDC further explains that bacterial change is what leads to decreasing or completely destroying the capacity of the drug to work. In fact once a bacteria becomes resistant to antibiotics it continues to multiply and make the condition worse for the patient.

The CDC also reports that antibiotic resistance is a serious problem throughout the world. The article explains that over the last decade there has been a sharp increase in the number of bacteria that have become antibiotic resistant. The CDC further explains

These antibiotic-resistant bacteria can quickly spread to family members, schoolmates, and co-workers - threatening the community with a new strain of infectious disease that is more difficult to cure and more expensive to treat. For this reason, antibiotic resistance is among CDC's top concerns. Antibiotic resistance can cause significant danger and suffering for children and adults who have common infections, once easily treatable with antibiotics. Microbes can develop resistance to specific medicines. A common misconception is that a person's body becomes resistant to specific drugs. However, it is microbes, not people, that become resistant to the drugs ("About Antibiotic Resistance")."

Not only does antibiotic resistance increase the likelihood that people will be seriously harmed or even killed as a result of bacteria, but is also increases the costs associated with treatment ("Antimicrobial (Drug) Resistance"). According to an article found in the Journal Environment and Development Economics cost for treatment are increased because the manner in which antibiotics are used. The author explains it in this way: a person has a bacterial infection and there are several antibiotics that are used to treat this infection. Some of these antibiotics are more expensive than others and all doctors have access to the same antibiotics (Brown, 2008). Doctors are going to choose the cheapest antibiotic to treat the infection first. Over time the antibiotic becomes less effective because the bacteria begins to change as a response to the use of the antibiotic. Doctors are then forced to use more expensive antibiotics because the bacteria is still resistant to them because the use of the more expensive antibiotics isn't as prevalent.

One of the major reasons for antibiotic resistance is the overuse of antibiotics. This is described to an extent in the scenario presented above. In addition, many argue that modern medicine has contributed to an increase in the number of infections that people have. For instance, the use of chemotherapy to treat illnesses has saved many lives but people on chemotherapy are more likely to contract bacterial infections. This increases the use of antibiotics. In addition social conditions such as homelessness, also increase the number of infectious outbreaks. All these issues contribute to an increase in the use of antibiotics and as such they contribute to the increase in antibiotic resistance (Brown & Layton, 2008).

According to an article found in Clinical Microbiology and Infection mutation is one of the causes of antibiotic resistance. According to the article "Mutational resistance to rifampicin, fusidic acid and streptomycin arises readily and may pose clinical problems in some settings, limiting the use of these agents as monotherapy. Mutation is also a common mechanism of resistance to many synthetic antibacterial agents, such as the fluoroquinolones and oxazolidinones, although resistance to these classes arises less readily (Woodford & Ellington; 2006)."