A few days ago the World Health Organization made a
call to health sectors after information taken from a first research about anti
microbial resistance around the world, which concluded that "no country is
immune to bacteria and viruses that have become resistant to drugs", this
is worst especially thanks to the incredible ability to travel using both motor vehicles
and aircrafts.
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| Super Salmonella |
This represents a possible health
crisis if it’s considerate that we wouldn’t be talking about new viruses or
bacteria, but the evolutionary expression of those that have been developed drugs
as a cure of many diseases, so the same bugs are now able to ignore drugs effect
and become resistant to the antibiotic, which makes them even more dangerous.
Defined as antibiotic resistance to the
ability of a microorganism to withstand the effect of drugs that were
originally designed to attack them. This is possible thanks to two processes given
by natural selection: vertical form, which is to pass the mutations when a cell
is duplicated, passing new genes among individuals through the exchange of
plasmids; another way is through mutations produced randomly through and once
it has been generated the genetic information that is resistant to the molecule
that attacks them the bacteria mutate to avoid its effect for the purpose of
survival, or thanks to a lysogenic conversion
which is a process where viruses that infect only to bacteria, carries extra
genes and thereby alters the bacteria which is hosted.
Another process that can occur is more
artificial in which a selection on the population is charged with genetic
information. No matter if it’s through a natural or artificial way, when a
virus or a bacterium carries several resistance genes, it is called
multi-resistant or super-bacteria or super-virus.
Under this advice to combat this super
bugs, what Mike May called "a
catastrophic bacterial resistance" as estimates that only in the
United States at least 2 million people per year are infected each year by
antibiotic-resistant germs, creating a greater health alarm than cancer, as
according to figures from the Center of Control and prevention (CDC) intestinal
infections as the Clostridium difficile in
only a decade has increased the
number of deaths.
How did we go from having the stone to
kill lizards, to fight with Godzilla?, the truth is this happened while we
slept, in a simple and imperceptible way: accept antibiotics to cure everything,
from colds, toothache, to health problems that actually needed them, and in
addition, we administer them in a regular livestock. Part of the problem is
that as soon as antibiotic made us feel good, we stop them, and that's how bacteria
and viruses began to grow, in their struggle to adapt and survive, they created
mechanisms that have allowed them to adapt and combat the drugs.
So now the recommendation is to return
to the past, to the traditional remedies to treat the symptoms of those
diseases that do not need to take antibiotics, such as earache, throat ache,
sinusitis or bronchitis. This does not
mean fail to see a doctor, but together can make more intelligent
decisions.
So that while major pharmaceutical
firms are in looking for mechanisms that allow to fight viruses, bacteria and
resistant super derivatives, to avoid havoc in the population, each citizen can
do something to avoid antibiotics in the first place not getting sick, and
there are simple habits that can develop between those who are:
-Keep up to date vaccines, and attend
medical check-ups on a regular basis.
-Wash your hands, really? Yes!, washing
hands save lives, and this habit should be spread among children, before
eating, after going to the bathroom, after being exposed to public places,
avoid touching their eyes with dirty hands, and the best way is with SOAP and
water and not gel.
-Cook the eggs, meat and sausages
correctly and to the maximum and to avoid cross-contamination of food.
-Taking antibiotics properly, does it sound
illogical?, the truth is that there are times when medications should not be
avoided, of course under a physician supervision, these must be managed wisely
and complete treatments. It is common that patients take one or two pills and
they feel good and make them away, but this action is exactly what produces the
super bugs, because administer them that way starts bugs survival mechanism.
-Avoid sneezing on other people or
leave disposable paper that has served to clean saliva or mucus in the open
air.
-Consider organic foods free of
antibiotics.
If you go to the doctor it is very
important that you provide as much information about your health status, and if
you visit it because there are symptoms of disease, be sure to clearly mention
when symptoms began, if you have had a fever, if you has eaten and rested long
enough, and if you have taken other medications before coming to see doctor, so
you both analyze the convenience of taking or not antibiotics.
The side effects of antibiotics is that
they kill both healthy bacteria such as infectious, this means that the bacterial
environment of the body will be modify which opens the door to other bugs since
your immune system will be weak, this is why is so important of staying healthy
in the first place.
This is not the end of antibiotics, but
if the time used more rationally for our own health.
References:
Boseley, S (2014) Who calls for urgent action to
preserve power of antibiotics and make new ones. The Guardian. Disponible en red: http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/apr/30/who-calls-urgent-action-antibiotics-antimicrobial-resistance
Cannon, B. (2014) Microbiology: resistance fighters. Nature 509, S6-S8. Disponible en red: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v509/n7498_supp/full/509S6a.html
Laliberte, R. (2014) Is our drug habit killing us?
Disponible en: http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/health/womens-health/antibiotics
May, M. (2014) Drug development: time for teamwork. Nature 509, S5-S5. Disponible en red: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v509/n7498_supp/full/509S4a.html
May, M (2014) Antibiotics. Nature 509, S1. Disponible en red: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v509/n7498_supp/full/509S1a.html
Zimmer,, C. (2014) The continuing evolution of genes. The New York Times. Disponible en red: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/29/science/the-continuing-evolution-of-genes.html?_r=1