Misuse of Antibiotics

     On March 27, 2015 the White House announced a five-year plan. It aims to combating the threat of antibiotic-resistant bacterias. Some of these become resistant to antibiotics, so they want to prevent that bacteria’s from becoming deadly by this action. Saying that there are bacterias that become resistant to certain antibiotics means that these bacterias develop the ability to inhibit the effects of the antibiotic in the body, thus making the drug  inefficient for its intended purpose. When transformed, the bacteria survives the antibiotic, thereby multiplying and causing more damage.

Non-resistant Bacteria vs Drug Resistant Bacteria

     The Centers for Disease Control and Disease Prevention (CDC) estimated that antibiotic-resistant bacterias cause each year in the United States 23,000 deaths and 2 million illnesses. These are very significant figures to start searching so we can combat the threat of these bacterias in the United States and other countries. It has been shown that the misuse of antibiotics causes bacterias to become resistant to them, so it is expected an wherever antibiotics are prescribed unnecessarily.

     "Critics say it would be preferable for the White House to go further, especially in terms of the antibiotics used in animals that are afterwards processed meat for human consumption. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has already asked many pharmaceutical companies to eliminate the use of antibiotics for growth promotion in animals, but advocacy groups have asked the agency to also halt other uses of antibiotics in animals , like the prevention of diseases when animals are kept in cramped conditions."

    By prohibiting the antibiotic supplementation to animals, the contagion also slows down in the humans that eat them, for the excessive and inappropriate use of antibiotics causes bacterias to become resistant to it. It is not easy to create an antibiotic to fight bacteria, since any antibiotic has to change once the bacteria becomes resistant. In fact, this new antibiotic will need to be very different from the one initially used.

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Pictures:[1]:http://recend.apextech.netdna-cdn.com/images/tn/0/0/1200/596/900/447/2015/03/27/bacteria-reuters-bbc.jpg
[2]: http://www.niaid.nih.gov/SiteCollectionImages/topics/antimicrobialresistance/1whatIsDrugResistance.gif