ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE TO INFECTIOUS DISEASES

Antibiotic Resistance to Infectious Diseases

Antibiotic Resistance to Infectious Diseases

Antibiotic resistance can be defined as the ability of a microorganism to destroy or be unaffected by an antibiotic, or prevent it from entering the microorganism. Micro-organisms acquire antibiotic resistance by DNA mutations, sexual DNA transformation or harboring plasmids. Most scientists blame the bacterial antibody resistance to overuse of medications and household disinfectants. Antibiotic use promotes development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Antibiotic resistance occurs when bacteria change in some way that reduces or eliminates the effectiveness of drugs, chemicals, or other agents designed to cure or prevent infections. The bacteria survive and continue to multiply causing more harm. Widespread use of antibiotics promotes the spread of antibiotic resistance. While antibiotics should be used to treat bacterial infections, they are not effective against viral infections like the common cold, most sore throats, and the flu. There are a number of antibiotics that are no longer as useful as they once were for fighting bacterial infections. Bacterial diseases that no longer respond as well to antibiotic therapy include tuberculosis, gonorrhea, and staph infections that often occur following surgery.

Overuse of antibiotics is jeopardizing the usefulness of essential drugs. Decreasing inappropriate antibiotic use is the best way to control resistance. In 1995, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) launched a national campaign to reduce antimicrobial resistance through promotion of more appropriate antibiotic use. Antibiotics were once considered the universal answer to all microbial diseases but the situation is changing. Increased use of antibiotics has caused the development of bacterial resistance to antibiotic. When people misuse antibiotics some meek bacterial get killed where as others develop a mutated resistance to that particular antibiotic. Bacterial resistance to antibiotic has been studied over the period and researches have found that not only does over use of antibiotics cause this situation but overuse of household disinfectants. Molecular biology is telling us what the resistance mechanisms are. Mutations do come into play when drug manufacturers modify an existing antibiotic to overcome resistant bugs. In that case, the bacteria already possess a gene to defeat the antibiotic, and it mutates to regain mastery over the modified antibiotic. Bacteria acquire genes for resistance in three ways. In spontaneous mutation, bacterial DNA may change spontaneously, as indicated by the starburst. Drug-resistant tuberculosis arises this way. In a form of microbial sex called transformation, one bacterium may take up DNA from another. Penicillin-resistant gonorrhea results from transformation. But bacteria do something much cleverer than just mutating. That's chancy, so bacteria prefer to share biochemical secrets resistance genes that enable them to resist or destroy antibiotics.

This diabolical bartering can occur in a couple of ways. Some bacteria share plasmids, which exist outside the main chromosomes. This sharing can leap broad divisions in bacterial phylogeny. Secondly, through Gene cassettes, which are genes that can be spliced in the chromosomes. Genes called integrons code for enzymes called integrases that can splice those cassettes into chromosomes or other genetic material where they become ...