Superbugs: A Staggering Problem That We Have Created?

It seems as if all of the diseases and pandemics we discussed in class, were for the lack of a better term, chance occurrences. It is believed that the origins of the Ebola outbreak can be traced back to children playing with and eating infected bats. Some of the deadliest influenza outbreaks were simply the effect of mutating virus; a fact of life and biology which humans are not able to control. However, superbugs or antibiotic-resistant diseases, have their origins in the over-prescribing of antibiotics, a very human activity. Before these superbugs started to appear and scientists began to study them, many doctors were over-prescribing antibiotics. Antibiotics are only effective in treating a bacterial infection, not something like a common cold or flu, yet doctors were prescribing antibiotics to any individual who presented any symptoms closely resembling a bacterial infection. I recall growing up and experiencing a few ear and sinus infections, which can be caused by both viruses as well as bacteria. Never did my doctors really test for a virus or bacteria; instead just prescribing an antibiotic. The other major problem with antibiotics is the fact that patients often do not follow the instructions on the prescription bottles or stop taking the medication once they feel better. The problem with this is that it provides the perfect conditions for bacteria to mutate; which is why superbugs are starting to surface across the globe. We as members of a global community need to recognize this danger and threat, and take steps to reduce the possibility of a widespread superbug pandemic caused by our own negligence.

            A WebMD article written by Kelli Miller states: “every year, about 2 million people get sick from a superbug, according to the CDC. About 23,000 die”. She also cites the rather unsettling reminder that: “antibiotics are the foundation on which all modern medicine rests. Cancer chemotherapy, organ transplants, surgeries, and childbirth all rely on antibiotics to prevent infections. If you can't treat those, then we lose the medical advances we have made in the last 50 years." It is very troubling to think that many of our advanced medical treatments and procedures, like those mentioned above, could be at risk if our current antibiotics were ineffective. Diseases like MRSA, C diff (Clostridium difficile), and Multidrug-Resistant Acinetobacter are very serious infections that pose a significant threat to one’s life. I had a family member who got sick with MRSA a few years ago, and I was shocked by the number of antibiotics he had to take to help his body fight off the infection. He also found out that he was allergic to one of the antibiotics, which adds another level of complexity to this problem. Even if scientist and researchers continue to develop new, better, and stronger antibiotics, there is still the chance that these antibiotics will not be tolerated well by the patients these medications are intended to cure. I think that by now I have made it clear that superbugs are a very serious and important reality that we are all going to face as members of the global community.

            As I have stated earlier, this superbug problem has been created at the hands of both doctors and patients. An infectious-disease specialist, Dr. Amesh Adalja, writes “antibiotics resistance isn’t just something that happened after the discovery of penicillin” and the article continues to state: “researchers have discovered bacteria in caves that are resistant to many antibiotics, even though these bacteria have never had contact with humans, or been exposed to antibiotic drugs. Bacteria likely evolved…to defend themselves against other bacteria, or help them survive in other ways”. According to this specialist, the problem we have today could not have been fully prevented solely by the conservative and appropriate use of antibiotics. Instead, organisms have been mutating and evolving for as long as they have been on earth, but now that we all live in a very globalized environment, these new and resistant diseases can spread overnight to all corners of the globe; something that simply could not happen a few hundred or thousand years ago. Based on her argument, these superbugs are the product of a natural evolutionary process that was exacerbated by the misuse of antibiotics. Dr. Amesh Adalja desires for science to work towards developing new treatments and vaccinations to combat the constantly evolving bacteria and viruses. My hope is that researchers are able to find new medications and vaccines, but I hope that we can look back at this period of our history and learn from our mistakes, so both doctors and patients are more cognizant of the dangers of the misprescribing and misuse of all drugs, but especially antibiotics.

            NPR published an article which addresses how different bacteria evolve to become antibiotic-resistant superbugs. The writer includes a video of an experiment (I will include the link), that I highly suggest you watch if you have a few minutes. This experiment depicts exactly how E. coli bacteria can mutate to survive in successively higher amounts of antibiotics, rendering these treatments ineffective.   

            While the problem of superbugs seems very threatening and concerning; it should be noted that modern medicine is still advancing every day and developing new and successful ways to treat a number of the already mentioned superbugs. It is true that people die from diseases like MRSA, but at the same time, I witnessed a family member be cured of this disease with a cocktail of new antibiotics. When I was seeing my doctor last week, I noticed in the waiting room there was a chart about what symptoms do or do not require an antibiotic. I believe that taking even small measures, like simply putting up posters, will help to educate the public and slow the development of future superbugs.

Suggested Video: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/09/08/492965889/watch-bacteria-invade-antibiotics-and-transform-into-superbugs

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/super-superbugs-antibiotic-resistant-bacteria-may-be-deadlier/

https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/news/20150417/superbugs-what-they-are#3