HUNTING THE NIGHTMARE BACTERIA - Essay Example

HUNTING THE NIGHTMARE BACTERIA Hunting The Nightmare Bacteria The antibacterial drugs that were developed after the Second World War have always had the threat of becoming inept, as bacteria acquired resistance. However, none of the health officials had estimated the drastic health damage that simple infections could bring about. As newer varieties of bacteria surfaced after acquiring resistance from several medicines, the diseases they spawned started becoming untreatable. The ‘hidden epidemic’ as experts have called it seems to have silently crept up into the lives of people across the globe and is being transmitted at a pace which no one is able to control.

Bacterial infections long before the discovery of penicillin used to result in deaths from simple infected wounds. As times progressed, scientific intervention relieved people from the fatality of sepsis. However resistant genes and bacteria seem to have brought back such infections. In the case of Addie Rerecich, a MRSA infection from a single scrape wound resulted, which aggravated upon further treatment and multiplied due to medical intervention, exacerbating her debility to the point where doctors deemed it untreatable, yet bought her some time with surgical intervention.

Similarly David Ricci introduced NMD-1 into the United States, leaving doctors who had never treated a patient for such a bacteria; no choice but to quarantine him. Likewise, the alarming outbreak of KPC in New York threatened patient admission in the NIH, leaving the doctors baffled with the inability to control the spread of such a bacteria. The resistance of bacteria to antibiotics has thus posed problems for the doctors, pharmacists, microbiologists and researchers time after time due to the fact that medical resources are finite and the invading organisms are gaining strength in their pathogenicity.

As a result, medicines no longer prevent their spread as efficiently as they used to.There are many possible reasons that may have fueled the growth of resistant bacteria beyond the control of health specialists. Firstly, the antibiotics are often prescribed for ailments that do not require them, which results in bacteria becoming resistant to a specific class of anti-microbial drugs. Secondly, it is due to the silent spread of these bacteria across individuals who often do not exhibit symptoms unless it is too late and the bacteria have spread.

Unlike humans, the bacteria can transmit mutated genes across contaminated water and grow resistant to antibiotic medication even before they have entered their hosts. Moreover, it may also result from the lack of vigilance medical and other health related institutions to keep a check on the infections that patients have acquired and the spread of resistance. If combated with diligent urgency, as at NIH upon the outbreak of KPC, it is quite possible to restrict, if not completely eliminate the spread of life-threatening bacteria across nations.

In conclusion, it would suffice to put forward the catastrophic results that bacterial resistance has rendered. Whether hospitals or prominent pharmaceutical companies, all the individuals associated with the clinical application of antibiotics agree that the threat of bacterial resistance from antibiotics is a major problem. This problem can no longer be circumvented by prompt administration of antimicrobial drugs, because medicinal resources by the pharmaceutical companies are finite and the possibilities of bacteria acquiring new modes of resistance, infinite.

It is only in cases of the fortunate few that alternative treatments work, and even after that the possibilities of recurring infections not occurring are minimal. Hunting such bacteria therefore has become a nightmare, even with the progression in science. ReferencesCAERDSP ROABANO (2014). Documentary | Frontline: Hunting the Nightmare Bacteria.[online]. Youtube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q7uYoGkcF0PBS. (2012). Transcript | Hunting the Nightmare Bacteria.[online]. Available at: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/health-science-technology/hunting-the-nightmare-bacteria/transcript-51/