Saturday, October 3, 2015

Antibiotic Resistance

                 Antibiotic Resistance is a natural phenomenon. It occurs when an antibiotic has lost its ability to effectively control or kill bacterial growth; in other words, the bacteria are "resistant" and continue to multiply in the presence of therapeutic levels of an antibiotic. Resistant microorganisms (including bacteria, fungi, viruses and parasites) are able to withstand attack by antimicrobial drugs, such as antibacterial drugs (e.g. antibiotics), antifungals, antivirals, and antimalarials, so that standard treatments become ineffective and infections persist, increasing the risk of spread to others.

Key Facts
1. It is an increasingly serious threat to global public health that requires action across all government sectors and society.
2. In 2012, WHO reported a gradual increase in resistance to HIV drugs, albeit not reaching critical levels. Since then, further increases in resistance to first-line treatment drugs were reported, which might require using more expensive drugs in the near future.
3. In 2013, there were about 480 000 new cases of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). Extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) has been identified in 100 countries. MDR-TB requires treatment courses that are much longer and less effective than those for non-resistant TB.
4. There are high proportions of antibiotic resistance in bacteria that cause common infections (e.g. urinary tract infections, pneumonia, bloodstream infections) in all regions of the world.
5. Patients with infections caused by drug-resistant bacteria are generally at increased risk of worse clinical outcomes and death, and consume more health-care resources than patients infected with the same bacteria that are not resistant.

Related Articles
-  Bacteria
-  Cefixime (Antibiotic)
-  10 Facts About Antibiotics


Difference between Antibiotic and Antimicrobial Resistance
Antibiotic resistance refers specifically to the resistance to antibiotics that occurs in common bacteria that cause infections. Antimicrobial resistance is a broader term, encompassing resistance to drugs to treat infections caused by other microbes as well, such as parasites (e.g. malaria), viruses (e.g. HIV) and fungi (e.g. Candida).

Way Of Resistance
Some bacteria are naturally resistant to certain types of antibiotics. However, bacteria may also become resistant in two ways:
1. by a genetic mutation or
2. by acquiring resistance from another bacterium.

How does antibiotic resistance spread ?
Genetically, antibiotic resistance spreads through bacteria populations both "vertically," when new generations inherit antibiotic resistance genes, and "horizontally," when bacteria share or exchange sections of genetic material with other bacteria. Horizontal gene transfer can even occur between different bacterial species. Environmentally, antibiotic resistance spreads as bacteria themselves move from place to place; bacteria can travel via airplane, water and wind. People can pass the resistant bacteria to others; for example, by coughing or contact with unwashed hands.

5 Ways to Deal With Antibiotic Resistance
Antibiotic resistance has been declared a crisis by the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Institute of Medicine, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, and virtually all other relevant organizations.
The 5 Solutions for Antibiotic Resistance are :
1. Collect Data :
The data are strong testimony supporting the acknowledged association between antibiotic abuse and resistance, and they identify areas of great need for corrective intervention. It helps to find out the problems.
2. Stop Antibiotic Use on the Farm :
A full 80% of antibiotic use in the United States is for growth promotion and disease prevention in farm animals. Resistant bacteria and resistance genes can be traced from the chickens to the chicken meat in grocery stores and, finally, to blood cultures in patients (The "farm to fork” phenomenon). The practice of antibiotics for growth promotion on the farm was stopped in Denmark many years ago, with no apparent economic or animal health consequences.
3. Reduce Inappropriate Antibiotic Use in Outpatients :
The abuse of antibiotics is well known and in large part reflects consumer demand because the patient expects to walk out of the clinic with a prescription for that viral respiratory tract infection. A Cochrane review of all methods to reduce antibiotic abuse in the clinic concluded that the "3-day prescription" was the only method with documented success. This means telling the patients with "sinusitis" that they probably have a viral infection that is likely to get better within 3 days, and providing a prescription that is dated 3 days later for use if the patient is not better or is getting worse at that time.
4. Integrate Antibiotic Resistance Initiatives Into Healthcare Reform :
Healthcare reform priorities are ripe for similar prevention methods, including MRSA bacteremia, Clostridium difficile infection, surgical-site infection, and catheter-associated urinary tract infections. Caution must be used to prevent "gaming the system," however, as illustrated by the experience with central line bacteremia. When financial penalties were instituted, national rates of central line bacteremia declined by 25% within 1 week!
5. Adopt Rapid Diagnostic Tests :
Molecular methods are coming fast. We now have a polymerase chain reaction test for the detection of MRSA, vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Chlamydia trachomatis, group B Streptococcus, tuberculosis, Candida albicans, and many others. Coming soon are tests that will detect practically every bacterium as well as other pathogens, making an etiologic diagnosis to facilitate antibiotic decision-making within 1-2 hours of collecting the culture. Interpretation will be tricky, however, because many specimens will need quantitation and there will be a predictable need for substantial stewardship.

References
1. WHO : Antimicrobial resistance
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs194/en/
2. Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics (APUA), 2014.
http://www.tufts.edu/med/apua/about_issue/about_antibioticres.shtml
3. Medscape : 8 Ways to Deal With Antibiotic Resistance
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/808814

Related Articles
-  Bacteria
-  Cefixime (Antibiotic)
-  10 Facts About Antibiotics
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2 comments:

  1. I was diagnosed as HEPATITIS B carrier in 2013 with fibrosis of the
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    ReplyDelete
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    About two years ago, when I was 56, I started feeling foggy and had occasional memory lapses. My wife, Mary, started to notice it, too, but I also have hearing issues so she thought that was the problem. My memory problems worsened very gradually over the years, and we lived with it, compensating as needed. I became less social. After some months thereafter, it got to the point where we couldn’t keep making excuses or ignoring it. I had gone from doing our grocery shopping without a list to going with a list, to having the list but not paying for what was on it.

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