Research Paper: Antimicrobial resistance
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is considered a drug-resistant pathogen that spreads after constant use of medicine, particularly medicine used on viruses. The first-ever drug-resistant pathogen to be spotted was 4 years before the creation of Penicillin. Antimicrobial resistance threatens our way of treating common infections. Sometimes, these pathogens mutate into “Superbugs”, and unfortunate victims get infected by one that cannot be treated by the AMR medicine that we have developed. Not only is AMR very deadly to humans, but also to the economy. It has caused significant damage to national economies and health systems. This prolongs patients' hospital stays and also increases the need for expensive care. If we fail to do anything about this, doctors could be unable to treat AMR infections and people can die from them.
Important surgeries could become riskier as well because they can transport drug-resistant pathogens. Antimicrobial resistance occurs when microbes evolve mechanisms that protect them from antibiotics. This drug resistance is not only found in viruses but it also has been spotted in bacteria, diseases such as urinary tract infections, sexually transmitted infections and some forms of diarrhea be resistant to antibiotics. Not only bacteria or viruses but drug resistance can be found in all types of forms. Forms such as fungi, malaria parasites, and more. Need for coordinated action is required, as AMR is simply too complex for a group of scientists to prevent. AMR could cause 10 million deaths by 2050 (Alston, Fionna 2019). As stated before, constant use of medicine only increases bacterial or viral infections that are immune to daily medicine. We could be using medicine every morning that relieves a cough, sinus infections, etc. Antimicrobial resistance can limit the way we function as a society, potentially seeing another lockdown such as the COVID-19 lockdown. We could be returning to online schools, distancing ourselves from one another, and large events being very limited.
We will also have to limit medicine usage and look for natural ways to cure an illness. About 1.5 million people die every year from drug-resistant infections(Williams, A, ScD. 2019). The rise of these superbugs can endanger life-saving procedures such as surgery, chemotherapy, and organ transplants(Savage, Nature 2019). People are in hospitals with infections that cannot be treated with infections(Savage, Nature 2019). By 2030 we could be seeing a Gross domestic product (GDP) loss of up to 3.4 trillion US dollars (ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS OF GOOD MANUFACTURING PRACTICES, 2019). Not only people's lives will be affected, but the economy will take a disastrous turn for the worse. Antibiotics could be way harder to get to prevent AMR from spreading, and doctor diagnoses may be required for access to common antibiotics, such as cold medicine. Like the COVID-19 pandemic, if these drug-resistant illnesses were to spread rapidly, we could also be facing a shortage of doctors. We can be living in a closed society, having prolonged quarantines to prevent the spread.
Not only can humans contract these illnesses, but animals can as well. The antibiotics we administer to livestock can also spread drug-resistant pathogens. The meals we eat that consist of this livestock could contain resistant bacterial infections. According to Gorbach, SL 2001, 20 percent of sample meats in supermarkets are contaminated with salmonella, and 84% of the isolates were resistant to at least one antimicrobial. Coming from the same article 17 percent of chickens obtained had strains of Enterococcus faecium, that were resistant to quinupristin-dalfopristin. This is due to the distribution of virginiamycin in chicken feed. Over 80% of salmonella infections were from food animals. These examples are not the only food meats that could contain drug-resistant bacterial infections, but any food meat could contain this. Not only we will have to worry about contracting an infection from one another, but we will now have to start worrying about contracting from the food we eat that could give us prolonged hospital stays due to resistant pathogens being contracted. Common illnesses such as colds, flu, or even a small bug could require hospital visits with no treatable options. Even worse illnesses that do require hospital visits could become resistant, and require prolonged hospital stays and the use of stronger medicine. Drug-resistant infection treatment costs have doubled annually since 2002, now exceeding 2 billion dollars annually(Thorpe, 2018). Treatment of AMR is extremely difficult as lack of antimicrobial therapy is severely lacking, and initial treatment may fail. Doctors now are struggling to help patients infected with these drug-resistant pathogens. According to Thorpe, 2018, having antimicrobial resistance added 1,383$ to the cost of treating a patient. In the years 2006-2012, 30 percent of antibiotic prescriptions written in ambulatory care were not right.
