Antibiotic Resistance

Introduction: The medication which is used to reduce the growth of microorganism or kill them is called Antibiotics. Those microorganisms include bacteria and fungi. Antibiotics are not effective in case of viruses. The antibiotic resistance is an adaptive change in bacteria or fungi which is called “mutation” that allows them to grow in the presence of the antibiotics. These antibiotic resistance bacteria or fungi are difficult to treat.

Types: The types may include:

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteria.
Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci (VRE) bacteria are resistant to vancomycin.
Food borne bacteria like coli, Salmonella and Campylibacter.
Sexually transmitted bacteria that cause gonorrhea
Penicillin-resistant Streptococci that cause pneumonia
Tuberculosis
Influenza
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
Malaria

Cause: The microorganisms can reproduce, spread and can adapt to their environment quickly and efficiently to ensure their survival. This evolution can happen in no of ways:

Selective pressure: In the presence of antibiotics the microbes carry the resistance gene and can survive and replicate.
Mutation: Mutation helps microbes to survive exposure to antibiotics.
Gene transfer: microbes can transfer the gene from others and become drug resistance.

Diagnosis: Samples are taken from the host like blood, urine, stool, tissues, cell mucus and cultured and also tested for antibodies, antigens to determine the organism responsible for the infection.

Treatment: Antibiotics are used to fight against bacterial infection as well as fungi infection butthey are not effective against Virus.

If the host is resistant to certain antibiotics then the doctor can prescribe a different and even more appropriate and effective antibiotic which can be more effective against the microbial organism.

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