...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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...ygiene and the overuse of antibiotics in today's populations is creating a problem in healthcare settings such as infections, increasing mortality rates, longer hospital stays and increasing cost of healthcare. The audience that I would like to focus on for my speech would be healthcare workers in general that have direct contact with patients, due to the fact that they would be responsible for proper hand hygiene to prevent spread of infections and monitor the safety of their patients at all times. The goal of this speech is to bring awareness to the spread of clostridium difficile infections in healthcare settings, its effects on the patient's, and ways to prevent the spread of cdifficile among the healthcare workers with direct patient care that could prevent harm to patients. Shana Roberson 2 What would you think if I told you that according to the CDC, one gram of poop contained one million germs? The first reports of Clostridium difficile, also known as CDiff was originally founded in 1978 as the cause of antibiotic induced pseudomembranous colitis, and according to the CDC, is now the leading cause of antibioticassociated diarrhea in healthcare settings. Research shows that CDiff infections are a problem in healthcare settings due to poor hand hygiene from all healthcare workers that have direct patient care and the overuse of antibiotics. In the next few...
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...Some of the patients are on Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) precaution. The other participants would be patient receiving antibiotics treatment, while the other are not receiving any antibiotics treatment. There will be a total of one hundred participants that will be included in this research. The relevant of the study is to get patients aware of the risk of overuse of antibiotics. The necessary test that will be done is a complete blood count to see what the white results of the white blood count results are. Most of the participants will already have current laboratory results available. In addition, I will review the laboratory results of the blood cultures. If there is no blood culture drawn for the patients that are prescribed antibiotics. The data collection procedure will be to review the laboratory results in the computer system. The data will be provided by the primary care team or the staff that is caring for the patients that are participating in the research. The data are stored in the computer system and are collected when needed to make the...
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...Farming For the last sixty years, conventional farmers have grossly misused antibiotics. Livestock considered healthy are given antibiotics to stimulate growth merely to increase profit. As a result, humans are developing drug-resistant bacteria in their bodies. The changes that farmers have made to the way they are raising livestock is harmful to people with chronic illness. For example, children with cystic fibrosis need to take antibiotics their whole life. Coupling those antibiotics with the antibiotics that conventional farmer’s use leads to irreparable damage to their hearing. Organically grown food is a healthier alternative to conventionally farmed foods, despite higher prices. Conventional farming is a $28 billion dollar per year industry in the United States (Green, 2013). The methods that conventional farmers use to increase production such as the use of genetically modified organisms (GMO's), antibiotics, and pesticides are harmful to people with chronic illness. The mixture of chemicals and antibiotics that conventional farmers use to kill bugs, fight diseases and grow bigger crops can increase the risk factors for chronic illnesses. It is arguable that organic farming, even though it is more expensive, is a healthier alternative to conventional farming. This is particularly true among the young and the chronically ill (Shan, 2006). The overuse of antibiotics in animals is leading to the creation of drug-resistant bacteria that can make humans...
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...Antibiotics: Not Always the Answer It was flu season. Almost everyone was getting sick. For a few days, my throat felt constricted, making it hard for me to swallow down food. Thinking that it was a cold, I ignored it and went on with my daily schedule. Two weeks passed, there was no change. I never really thought about looking at my throat to see what was going on, but once I looked, my tonsils were the size of golf balls. I went straight to my doctor, hoping it wasn't tonsillitis. The first thing we had to figure out was to see if this was a bacterial or viral infection. My tests results for strep throat, mononucleosis, tonsillitis, and blood samples to test for bacterial infection were all negative. My doctor reported that my results indicated that I had some sort of virus, and did not prescribe me antibiotics, raising questions for why I shouldn't be taking antibiotics for my infection. Since Alexander Fleming's discovery of them in 1927, antibiotics have played a profound role in ridding the population of bacterial infections. Antibiotics are chemicals that work to kill disease-causing, single-cell living organisms called bacteria ("The Danger of Antibiotic Overuse"). Bacteria can surpass our immune system, reproduce, and cause diseases or infection by producing chemicals that damage our bodies ("What Are Antibiotics? How Do Antibiotics Work?"). For instance, bacteria can invade our inner ear and cause a bacterial ear infection. Our immune system works to fight the...
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...Antibiotic resistant Because of the overdose antibiotics and antibiotic animals consume humans have become immune. Germs are evolving faster than medicine can keep up trying to cure it. A polymer spray has created to stop bacteria from communicating; therefore, people will be sick less. Because animals food has antibiotics in it, humans has been over exposed. In general, antibiotic resistance have been causing people to be ill more. One cause of overexposure to medicine the effects of germs a bacteria have to resist antibiotic medicine. According to “Doctors enlisted” it won't be easy to ending antibiotic resistance. And getting the upper hand, will take more then additional stellar ship. And being immune to antibiotic roughly killed 23,000 people in the United States alone. The microbes are changing faster than the antibiotic can kill it therefore; it's turning into a fungal infection which is not curable. There must be a limit that doctors can prescribe medication so we don't overuse antibiotics so we can actually feel the effects we we need it. The people at University of Michigan and saying the there no reason to prescribe the drug if germs are going to outsmart it....
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...Have antibiotics won the battle against bacterial infection or are they creating more serious health problems for the future? Antibiotics are substances that kill or restrict the growth of bacteria and fungi. They can be used to help the body fight infection from micro-organisms, antibiotics is making use of one micro-organism's natural means of attacking another. The debate on whether antibiotics are a safe cure for bacterial infections has been a long debated topic. The purpose of this essay is to ascertain whether antibiotics have won the battle against bacterial infection or whether they are creating more serious health problems for the future. This essay will argue that contrary to popular belief, antibiotics are creating more serious health problems for the future; this is because of the health issues exposure to antibiotics causes, Internal Ecological damage and the negative effects of overuse or misuse of antibiotics. One very important reason why antibiotics have not won the battle against bacterial infection or why they are creating more serious health problems for the future is because of the health issues exposure to antibiotics causes. Antibiotic resistance has been called one of the world’s most pressing public health problems. It can cause significant danger and sufferings for people who have common infections that once were easily treatable with antibiotics. When antibiotics fail to work, the consequences are longer-lasting illnesses; more doctor visits or extended...
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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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...Antibiotics have saved numerous lives since the innovation of penicillin antibiotics in 1928 by Alexander Fleming. Although, now there is a increasing anxiety that overuse of antibiotics can direct to avoidable side effects and the expansion of drugs which are mostly opposing bacteria such as MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus). MRSA has happened to be the most frequent organism responsible for skin, soft tissue and surgical-site infections in the United States and in different parts of the Europe. Different findings had been conducted in a study of the genetic code of MRSA samples; they have added these samples to support to the theory that the introduction of extensive antibiotic use in the 1960s may have generated MRSA disease. Antibiotic word is an originated from Greek for anti, which means against and bios means life. A micro –organism bacteria is a life figure that is moreover good, living in our lower part of the canal near stomach and anus which called intestine, such bacteria’s infecting our bodies and making the world population ill. Antibiotics are a kind of drugs used to treat these infections caused by bacteria. Healthy immune systems can be destroyed by bad bacteria before they can cause disorder in the whole body which causing illness. Human bodies assault the bacteria by transferring white blood cells to the unsafe bacteria separating the good bacteria unaccompanied. Antibiotics are frequently used for higher respiratory infections. But the mainstream...
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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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...potentially kill them. Antibiotics are used in America for many of the livestock we eat. The purpose of giving animals this is to preventing disease and increasing efficiency and growth rate in the animal, but at the same time this can cause bacteria to become more resistant, destroy our immune system, and eventually leads to the common disease to be more of a threat to us. Antibiotics should be used less in our livestock to ensure that the consumers are not in danger from these drugs. Bacteria resistance has been increasing every year around the world because of the overuse of antibiotics at a rapid pace and is harder to fight off. Many people think that these bacteria pose no threat to their communities but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says “Every year, more than two million people in the United States get infections that are resistant to...
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...The Misuse of Antibiotics and Bacterial Resistance Samantha Onda Penn State Worthington Scranton Abstract The growing issue of bacterial resistance to antibiotics is growing more rapidly than anticipated. Numerous factors contribute to this growing issue and it creates a major concern for society today. The main factor in this growing issue is the continuous misuse and overuse of antibiotics. For example, people use them by prescribing antibiotics to themselves, even if they have acquired a viral infection. Furthermore, livestock is pumped full of antibiotics to promote growth and prevent infections. Moreover, bacteria have become smarter and evolved so that they are able to transmit the resistance to other bacteria. This is an important issue in today’s society because if antibiotics are continuously misused, they will no longer be affective. The world will go back to a time period when diseases, even something as simple as the common cold, killed mass numbers of people. From reading this paper, readers will learn that they need to properly educate themselves and others in our society to prevent complete resistance. Keywords: antibiotics, bacteria, resistance, misuse, educate The Misuse of Antibiotics and Bacterial Resistance Antibiotics have been used throughout centuries of medicine. An antibiotic is a medication used to treat infectious diseases. There are many different types of antibiotics, such as penicillin and tetracycline, that work differently to treat infections...
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...Should Children’s Ear Infections Be Treated With Antibiotics? University of Washington, Tacoma THLEAD 350: Joane Moceri Should Children’s Ear Infections Be Treated With Antibiotics? There has been controversy about whether to treat children’s ear infections with antibiotics or just do an initial observation. Therefore, the issue to be analyzed in this paper is: Should children’s ear infections be treated with antibiotics? Terms & Definitions The purpose of this paper is to evaluate primary research articles by using methods of critical thinking and asking the right questions. This paper will discuss the treatment options for acute otitis media (ear infection) in children with either initial observation/watchful waiting (observing the child first before deciding to prescribe medications) or antibiotic treatment (form of medication usually prescribed to rid the body of infection). There are ten questions that I will be using from the book “Asking the Right Questions (ARQ)” by Browne and Keeley (2010), in order to do a critical analyses of six articles. For each question I will first present views from authors who are against the use of antibiotic treatment for acute otitis media (AOM). Then I will present views from authors who would rather treat acute otitis media with antibiotics. The first and main ARQ question that will be brought up and answered throughout this paper is, “What are the issues and the conclusions?” (Brown & Keeley, 2010, p. 10). There are two...
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...Health care today is becoming more complex with the aging population, multiple comorbidities, and rising health care costs. There are many issues that health care providers face while caring for patients on a daily basis. The two health care problems that will be discussed are hospital acquired infections and how it affects patient outcomes as well as antibiotic resistance related to overuse and misuse. This paper will discuss those two health care problems and how they affect health care delivery as well as costs, access to care, quality of care, and nursing qualities that influence evidence-based practice. Problems That Affect Health Care Delivery and Health Care Policies Hospital acquired infections The first health care problem to be discussed...
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