All about antimicrobial resistance! This article has everything from the definition to the impact of antimicrobial resistance on people.
picture by: NPS medicine wise
What is antimicrobial resistance?
Antimicrobials are medicines that are used to treat any type of infection in humans, animals or plants by preventing the microorganisms from growing or by killing them. Antimicrobials include antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals or antiparasitics. Antimicrobial resistance is when these microorganisms no longer respond to the taken medications, making it harder to treat the infections and increasing the spread of the disease, leading to serious illness and the possibility of death.
How does antimicrobial resistance occur in bacteria?
Evolution in the bacteria has a shorter time span as they reproduce every 20 minutes. Within a bacteria, there is a variation that is caused by mutation. Mutation in bacteria is the change of the nucleotide sequence within the organism that creates new functions or dysfunctions in them. In certain bacteria, the effect of mutation causes them to become resistant to the antibiotic they are exposed to. So when the bacteria population is treated with this antibiotic, the resistant bacteria won't die, however, would continue to reproduce with less competition from the non-resistant bacteria. This causes the genes for the resistance to pass on as the population increases. This is an example of natural selection since the entire population will become antibiotic-resistant over time.
Why is antimicrobial resistance a big concern?
With the alarming growth rate of multi- and pan-resistant bacteria (known as superbugs), their ability to rapidly acquire new resistance mechanisms becomes a more difficult task to treat common infections over a period of time. In 2019 WHO identified 32 antibiotics in clinical developments of which 6 of these were considered to be useful, however lack of access to microbials remains a huge issue and does cause a great impact in countries with lacking healthcare systems. WHO has also listed carbapenem-resistant gram-negative bacterial infections as a priority pathogen and if the way these pathogens are being used does not change, they will become ineffective and become more difficult to treat and cure.
If there are no effective tools to prevent the spread of any infections in the organism, treatments such as surgery, cancer chemotherapy and any form of organ transplant will become more risky and less effective.
Where does the resistance spread?
Antimicrobial resistance spread in healthcare facilities. Staff members use protective equipment to prevent the spread of these germs. If these requirements aren't regularly replaced or sanitized correctly, germs would easily be able to enter the body through commonly used medical devices and spread onto different surfaces (such as healthcare workers' hands). It might also spread within the patients as they transfer from one facility to another. If such a situation isn't controlled well, the germs can easily spread from one community to another.
Such resistance can also spread through human waste and previously consumed antimicrobials by people can spread into water waste. These antimicrobials might survive and reproduce even more antimicrobials. Moreover, the resistance could be spread by pesticides, antibiotics and antifungals (fungicides) are sometimes applied as pesticides to manage plant and crop diseases. Contamination can affect human health when the pesticides are the same as, or closely related to, antibiotics and antifungals used in human medicine.
How to prevent the spread of antimicrobial resistance?
1. Keep your cuts clean and covered until they are healed and take care of any chronic conditions by taking appropriate medications and having regular checkups. 2. Maintain self-hygiene by continuously washing your hands which prevents the spread of germs and prevents any sickness. 3. Get vaccinated regularly to prevent any infections in the body. 4. Use antibiotics and antimicrobials only when they are given by a doctor and complete the entire duration of the antibiotic. 5. Practice healthy habits on a regular and make sure to prepare your meals in a safe and healthy manner by sanitising all utensils used in the preparation.