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Causes of Increasing Antibiotic Resistance and Possible Solutions

Introduction:


Image Credit: Alliance for Aging Research
Image Credit: Alliance for Aging Research

After the 20th century, antibiotic resistance intensified due to the misuse of antibiotics. Based on several research studies, misuse of antibiotics is intensified. For example, antibiotics are prescribed for cold and flu; however, after the 20th century, people self-administered antibiotics for themselves, even though they can easily overcome them. So, the virus develops resistance to antibiotics. If this trend continues, then the current curing method may not work properly; therefore, it can pose a tremendous danger for modern medicine.


Process of Antibiotic Resistance:

Antibiotic resistance happens because of natural selection. Antibiotics are drugs used to fight bacteria. Even before antibiotics are used, some bacteria have random mutations, including mutations that provide resistance to antibiotics. When antibiotic medication is used, bacteria are altered or destroyed; however, when too much is administered, natural selection will only allow bacteria with resistance to survive. Therefore, at last, every bacterium will have DNA that gives it resistance to antibiotics. Even if antibiotics are used again, there will be no effect in curing the sickness. Furthermore, antibiotic-resistant bacteria can transfer resistant genes to other bacteria using genetic code called plasmids. This growing antibiotic resistance is reducing the advantage in modern machining, and it’s threatening us.


Image Credit: Telemedpolyclinic
Image Credit: Telemedpolyclinic

Antibiotic Resistance is frequently caused by inappropriate access to the right medicines, quality-assured diagnostics, and vaccines. 


Cause of Antibiotic Resistance: 

When people use medicine for the wrong disease or do not follow the proper prescription period, some bacteria develop resistance against those drugs. These situations happen because of people's lack of awareness towards given instructions and lack of knowledge of medicines and diagnostics. Some developing countries have scarce access to proper medicine, knowledge, or tools for cures; therefore, incorrect prescriptions are frequent.


Solution to Overcome Intensified Antibiotic Resistance: 

However, there are still solutions to overcome antibiotic resistance. 

First of all, abiding by the doctor’s instructions about drug usage is crucial. Making sure to follow proper prescription periods and amounts is one. This is the ideal way to protect ourselves from antibiotic resistance. 


Secondly, promoting accurate diagnosis and high-quality medicine is key. If we follow diagnostics and proper medicine usage rigorously, then we may reduce the misuse of wrong medicine. Developing countries experience this phenomenon frequently because there is a lack of healthcare compared to their rapidly growing population, leading to misdiagnosis. 


Lastly, encouraging more research about antibiotic resistance is needed. For example, researchers are looking for new molecules that can prevent the emergence of further resistance. Currently, researchers Didier Mazel and Céline have already published a paper about unknown DNA sequences that can be transferred to genomes from plasmids. 


Conclusion: 

Overall, antibiotic resistance mainly arises from the misuse of the drug, inaccurate prescription of medicine, and bacterial DNA transfer. However, if we promote proper usage of antibiotics, access to cures, and continuous research, we may overcome this problem. Maintaining antibiotics and its effectiveness is an essential goal to save world health.


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