When the Antibiotics Quit Working - Essay Example

This property makes them very useful because this allows them to specifically target the microorganisms and not the host cells. Antibiotics are drugs that are prescribed by the doctors for the treatment of severe infections that are caused by bacteria. These drugs are not useful against viral infections because they are not effective in that case.The use of antibiotics has greatly increased over the years. With this rise in the prescription of these medications, there has also been a rise in their ineffectiveness.

This incompetence of the drug results due to the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The reason behind this is that when the bacteria come under attack by these drugs, they have the capability to undergo certain changes via many mechanisms which make them resistant to that particular drug. After the development of one strain of resistant bacteria, there is a quick spread and if the same bacterium infects another person, it will still be resistant to the antibiotics. This can be very harmful and it is via this mechanism that antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis has resulted.

Hospitals serve as pools for the generation of these resistant strains. Also, the immediate prescription of antibiotics without an initial treatment with alternative medications can be counted as a reason for leading towards this problem. Antibiotic overuse with animals also results in resistant bacterial strains within animals and when these are consumed by humans, they also result in diseases by bacteria that do not respond to certain antibiotics. It is also a common practice to give antibiotics before surgery to minimize the chances of infection.

Such over usages of antibiotics cause nonpathogenic bacteria to also form resistant strains.Antibiotic-resistant bacteria can lead to infections which have an even greater severity compared to the non-resistant forms. Patients who suffer from Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome and become infected with antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis have very low survival rates. This is because it is very difficult to cure them. This problem should be realized and methods should be found out to reduce the formation of antibiotic-resistant strains.

This is because it would be very difficult to treat patients who suffer from these bacterial strains. Increased doses would have to be prescribed to cure them and this would again result in more resistant strains.