Antibiotics, Not as Harmless as You Think

Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional. I am writing this for low level educational purposes. If you have a health related question, I advise taking it up with your doctor or another trained expert.

Antibiotics are wonderful. They increased longevity and revolutionized healthcare, but their improper use is leading to what could potentially be the end of antibiotics.

On September 3, 1928, Alexander Fleming discovered a spot of mold in one of his petri dishes. Surrounding this mold was a dead zone where no Staphylococcus (the bacteria he was researching) colonies were growing. The excreted chemical from this mold was later named penicillin. It was this discovery that set forth the age of antibiotics. (1)

Once the mechanism for penicillin was discovered, many new antibiotics soon arrived. Their methods of attack vary from compound to compound. They can severely weaken the bacteria by rupturing them, inhibiting enzymes, etc. (2) Once weakened, your immune system usually has no problem cleaning up the rest of the mess.

Since antibiotics attack bacteria in a fairly specific way, it is undoubtedly true that not every antibiotic works on every bacteria. This is important for numerous reasons. Not only will the antibiotic you take not cure you, but it can lead to resistance in other bacteria and kill off the bacteria you need to survive. To make matters worse, not only are people taking the wrong antibiotics, but people are using them for viral infections, not completing their doses, and overusing them in livestock. All of this leads to antibacterial resistance.

As more bacteria become resistant to more antibiotics, it becomes increasingly difficult to cure bacterial infections. Researchers work relentlessly to find new antibiotics so we can stay ahead of the game but this becomes increasingly more difficult. We also have a few super antibiotics that we are keeping as a last resort. (3) But if we continue our path of improperly using antibiotics, even these might soon lead to strains of bacteria able to survive their effects.

So what can we do to slow down the spread of resistant bacteria?

1) Stop using antimicrobial soap for cleaning your hands. Hand sanitizer works just fine. Hand sanitizer works because it contains an alcohol that tears apart cell membranes and denatures proteins. (4) That isn't something that you become resistant to. Not to mention, the diluted antibiotics end up in the drain, leading to even more resistance.

2) Quit taking antibiotics for viral infections. If you have the flu or a cold, this is caused by a virus. Antibiotics have absolutely no affect on viral infections.

3) Finish the dose. Don't take less than prescribed and don't stop early. If you don't use enough antibiotic to kill the bacteria, you might lead to a resistant strain. This means that if your symptoms are gone and you still have three days left, finish it out.

4) Alternate antibiotics. This is going to be a call from your doctor. Do not do this yourself without seeking a professional. Sometimes, the results you want don't come from the first antibiotic due to some resistant bacteria lingering around. To wipe these out before they spread (taking their resistance with them), another antibiotic might be used. If you have worked with livestock, you might have done a similar practice but with a variety of diseases, many not even caused by bacteria (so not antibiotics).

With proper antibiotic use, we can slow down the spread of resistant strains and give researchers an even greater edge on bacteria.

Note: If you are a rancher/farmer, it is worth pointing out that feed laced with antibiotics is not the way to go and many have ditched this practice. Keep your pens clean and frequency of disease decreases. If an animal becomes infected, quarantine the animal and treat to kill off the infection without encouraging it to spread. Do not stop when symptoms stop. After treatment, there is an ideal holding time before butchering/milking is allowed to ensure the antibiotic won't be present in the meat/milk. In many cases, the presence of an antibiotic in meat or milk can lead to an entire shipment being tossed. If you have any questions, this is best directed to your local agricultural extension service as they will have the answers.

Another note: The human microbiome is a very complex system. We rely on bacteria for us to properly function. There are more cells in and on our bodies with bacterial DNA than our own DNA. Don't assume all bacteria is bad. And keep in mind that if you kill too many of your good bacteria, you leave a nice opening for a new bacteria (I am looking at you, C. diff) to take its place.

1)https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/flemingpenicillin.html

2)http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/life-science/biochemicals/biochemical-products.html?TablePage=14837959

3)http://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/superbugs-kill-cure-modify-antibiotics-create-super-strength-drug-scientists-vancomycin-a7765101.html

4)http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/news/20130208/hand-sanitizers-germs#1

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