Growing Resistance – How Antibiotic Resistance is Increasing

While antibiotics are obviously essential in saving lives, and are without question a medical miracle, the effectiveness of these drugs is diminishing at what could be a rate faster than we know. There are a variety of types of antibiotics, each type equipped to target a certain feature of bacteria (i.e. peptidoglycan). However, because of the overuse and misuse of these medications, more and more pathogens are developing resistance to antibiotics. The use of antibiotics to grow livestock is another potential way that antibiotics are losing effectiveness. I believe that unless we move forward with extreme precaution, these drugs that are so essential in today’s medical world could be deemed useless.

According to the CDC, the estimated numbers of illnesses and deaths caused by antibiotic-resistant infections could be much higher than previously believed. The CDC also warns that two germs have been recently added to the “urgent threats” list. These germs are the “drug-resistant Candida auris” and the “carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter.” On the positive side of things, the CDC claims that antibiotic-resistant illnesses in hospitals decreased by 28% from 2012 to 2017. The group is also investing millions of dollars into research on prevention strategies for these antibiotic-resistant illnesses, as well as working cooperatively with the FDA and private industries to ensure that we have effective antibiotics for as long as possible.

The CDC also addresses antibiotic use in the agricultural industry and how it correlates with antibiotic-resistance. They realize that antibiotics are used for “growth promotion” and “feed efficiency,” and these techniques undoubtedly contribute to antibiotic resistance. Therefore, in 2017, it was made illegal to use medically important drugs in these strategies in the United States. I am curious to see how this policy is utilized when regarding imported meats. Other reasons that antibiotics are used in animals are to cure, control and prevent disease in animals and livestock. I believe this to be important in the control of zoonotic diseases.