Super Bug

Everyone gets a certain cold in their life time, I've had plenty of them along with everyone else in the world. Bacteria is found in many different places, but some bacteria is worse than others, which can get you sick on certain occasions. These colds are usually treated with a antibiotics and will go away in a short period of time. Some bacteria however will develop a resistance to these antibiotics and are known as super bugs. These super bugs kill millions of people every year and will continue to do so until we get on top of it. People in the medical industry need to prevent this bacterial infection so we don't have to use antibiotics as much anymore (Spellberg). Super bugs have become a huge problem in the healthcare industry because
they have been mutating and the use of antibiotics have no effect on people. Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the CDC stated that “Each year in the United States, at least 2 million people acquire serious infections with bacteria that are resistant to one or more of the antibiotics designed to treat those infections. At least 23,000 people die each year as a direct result of these antibiotic-resistant infections. Many more die from other conditions that were complicated by an antibiotic-resistant infection”(CDC 11). That is such a huge amount of people, yet little to no people know about super bugs making it a huge threat to people. Antibiotics are one of the most prescribed drug for people and that wide use is one reason why it has no effect on bacteria anymore. Up to 50% of people that are prescribed antibiotics are for people who don't need them or are miss diagnosed and that are also prescribed antibiotics (CDC 11). MRSA (Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus) is a type of staph infection and has a significant mortality rate and it usually effects people who has been in hospitals for a long period of time (Baddour 5). According to Manal Baddour hospitals with HA-MRSA “ are usually associated with infections involving catheter lines (bloodstream), urinary tract, surgical wound infections, ulcers, ventilator associated pneumonia, and biomedical protheses. This shows that medical facilities need to start taking proper measures to ensure that all of their medical equipment and anything else patient related, needs to be sterile to prevent any sort of bacteria. Another form of MRSA is CA-MRSA which is from skin to skin contact and rather than this kind of bacterial infection being in hospitals, its more community involved (Baddour 6). This infection can mostly be spread through direct skin contact and activities such as wrestling, crowded places, or through family and pets (Maki 779). There are many other forms in which this bacteria can spread and its just not limited to hospitals either.
Like I said before It can be spread through many different people, certain situations and even on your own home. Another big contribute to this is farming and the overuse of antibiotics on animals. 80 percent of the antibiotic are given to animals in the U.S alone but only sometimes are antibiotics used to save an animal (Landhus). Antibiotics are used to speed up animals growth rate and Kellogg Schwab an environmental microbiologist at John Hopkins University said that this is “a direct threat to human health” and stated that its possible that the bacteria could be spread to humans through air from the animals (JH). Although there have been a few strains of MRSA that jump from humans to livestock a study showed that 38% of farmers had a presence of MRSA in them and was strongly related to having contact with animals (persistence of livestock associated MRSA). I think this should be very concerning for Americans because we consume so much livestock everyday and we are probably getting sick from this and don't even know it. Although there are many studies I feel that nothing will change because not that many people are aware or don't know if they got sick from that or something
else. As antibiotic resistance grows, we will not be able to treat infections due to the antibiotics not working as well. So the main thing we need to do is to prevent antibiotic resistance and spread the awareness to people. Their are four actions to prevent antibiotic resistance according to Tom Frieden director of the CDC, the first being preventing infections and preventing the spread of resistance (CDC 31). There are many things you can do from preventing infection such as, washing your hands, food preparation, only taking antibiotics when you need them and much more (CDC 31). All these little things can help you from getting sick and should be done on a regular basis. The second is tracking, which the CDC pretty much tracks and gathers data, such as why some people get a super bug in the first place (CDC 31). The fourth being improving antibiotic prescribing, meaning don't give people unnecessary antibiotics, stop giving animals antibiotics and use antibiotics less (CDC 31). The last one being the development of new drugs and diagnostic tests, which we can create new antibiotics to keep up the resistance and hopefully slow down the evolution of bacteria (CDC 31). Know one knows the future of super bugs and we must try everything we can to prevent and slow the bacteria down. This is just one of the many serious threats to people and hospitals, which I believe can get better if we really work hard at it. I thought all of the information I found was very interesting and learned a lot from this assignment. I was certainly unaware that super bugs even existed and how big of a problem it really is. I was amazed at all of the antibiotics they put into animals and how much that can affect people without their knowledge. I am a very healthy and clean person myself and will be taking the necessary preventable measures from spreading bacteria, so I can do my part in preventing super bugs.