Since the discovery of the first virus in 1892, humans have been locked in a constant battle against disease. We only found a treatment for some of these diseases recently in a medication known as antibiotics. These special medications are categorized into two main classes, bactericidal, where they kill bacteria, or bacteriostatic, where they slow bacterial growth. Antibiotics, often referred to as miracle drugs, have been the key to curing people of strep throat, small pox, pneumonia, as well as many more diseases. How exactly do antibiotics work, however? These medications target a bacteria’s cell wall, interfere with cell mitosis (when cell’s split), or block protein production. These methods are all in an attempt to keep bacteria from procreating so that the disease dies out. While antibiotics are extremely efficient in killing bacteria, they are useless against viruses. Think how you wouldn’t clean a water spill with a vacuum. Unfortunately, antibiotics are often given to people to quell worries over simple cold symptoms. This overprescription of drugs results in the creation of superbugs.
A superbug is a bacterium that has become resistant to one or more antibiotics. In short, superbugs are bacteria that outsmart medicine. This means that an antibiotic that has previously worked to stop a disease may no longer work effectively. As previously stated, overprescription is a major component of this process. When a person takes a lot of antibiotics that they don’t need, the bacteria in their body get used to it and mutate so that they aren’t affected by it. When a person gets sick with this disease again, the same antibiotic will not be able to protect them. This has been a growing problem in the pharmaceutical industry, not only because people are dying of previously-curable diseases, but also because no company wants to take on the job of finding a solution. Antibiotics are infamous for being extremely expensive to produce with not a lot of payback. Once a person uses an antibiotic, they do not need to buy it again. The problem isn’t just biological — it’s financial. Most pharmaceutical companies would rather focus their effort on mental health related disorders because people will have to continuously buy that medication. As a result, we’re slowly entering a growing crisis.
What can be done about this? Pharmaceutical companies should be given a motive to create new antibiotics. This will allow us to eventually find a solution to the building crisis. In addition, doctors, as well as everyday people, should be educated on the dangers of overprescribing antibiotics. This will reduce the speed in which superbugs are created. The overprescription issue has been prevalent in medical care since the first discovery of antibiotics in the 1940s. The reason that regular people should be warned about this issue is so that they do not plead with doctors for medication when they have viral infections.
Picture this; you are a mother with a sick child. You bring your sneezing, coughing child to their primary care doctor and are told to go home and rest. Afraid for the health of your child, you beg the doctor to give you medication to heal your child faster. The doctor agrees, giving you an antibiotic so that you stop bothering them and go home. This is bad because your child has the common cold, a viral infection that will not be cured using antibiotics. Instead, bacteria will become resistant to this antibiotic, which may cause your child to get even more sick in the future. It’s important to se the potential danger so that we can prevent the spread of superbugs.
According to a study done by Harvard, E.Coli is capable of becoming a superbug in just eleven days. They tested this theory using a large agar plate with bands of no antibiotic, the amount of antibiotic you’d normally use, ten times the normal amount, 100 times the normal amount, and 1000 times the normal amount. In the eleven days, the E.Coli managed to mutate itself enough times to spread all the way to the center, 100 times the normal amount, band on the agar plate. This experiment shows just how quickly bacteria can adapt — and why our misuse of antibiotics matters. Superbugs can be formed quickly in the right conditions, making this one of the most pressing medical concerns of our century.
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