Antibiotic-resistant bacteria - Essay Example

Biology: Antibiotic-resistant bacteria Antibiotic resistance (ABR) is a kind of resistance to drugs (antibiotics) threatening the successful prevention as well as treatment of an ever-rising variety of infections whose cause is bacteria. The available data that supports the hypothesis that ABR is on the rise comes from WHO annual reports (more so for 2014) on worldwide supervision of ABR discloses that resistance of antibiotics is no longer a future prediction; its right here with us. In 2012 for instance, there were around 450,000 fresh cases of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB).

Extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB) has been discovered in over 92 countries (WHO, 2014).The problems that exist in the available data for ABR is the fact that the reported cases are just approximations as given by various national summary tables which are able to give only a rough estimate of the real burden of illness. Thus there is no great precision in these figures and the real number of infections and deaths are therefore definitely higher than the figures provided. This problem can be overcome by doing studies in limited settings such a single hospital or a cluster of hospitals where the actual figures are taken (WHO, 2014).

Resistance can be tackled by using antibiotics only on prescription by a certified health practitioner, completing full treatment dose, even after healing and avoiding sharing of antibiotics with other people or taking leftover prescriptions. The methods that have little impact are the ones that are single and isolated interventions such as prescription and dispensation of the right drugs without much education to the patient. These studies lack accuracy since the data used is only estimates.

An appropriate study should be done in a limited setting and should be conclusive taking into account the cost and specific type of resistance witnessed and by what particular bacteria (WHO, 2014).ReferenceWHO. (2014). Antimicrobial Resistance. New York;NY: WHO.