Fighting the Superbug

Over the decades, people have come to take antibiotics for granted. Isn't there an antibiotic for every bacteria out there? Yet, in the battle against bacteria using antibiotics, bacteria have been gaining strength against us and have developed into superbugs with inbuilt resistance to these drugs.

In recent years, infections have reached epidemic proportions in hospitals and nursing homes around the world. This is because of the close proximity of the patients and their lowered immunity. Some of the healthcare-associated infections are caused by the bacterium Clostridium difficile or C. difficile and methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus or MRSA. These bacteria grow in abnormally large numbers in the intestinal tract of people taking antibiotics.

A healthy lower intestine should contain at least 85% friendly bacteria to prevent the over colonization of disease causing micro-organisms. The intestinal flora also help to synthesize certain vitamins. But when you take an antibiotic to treat an infection, it often destroys the beneficial bacteria. Of course, they also kill the disease-causing bacteria, but not all of them, leaving behind some that can develop natural resistance through genetic mutations. And once the bacteria have acquired resistance they don’t keep it to themselves, they can pass it on to other bacteria in the same generation which proliferate uncontrollably.

Our immune systems are generally pretty good at fighting bacteria on their own. Yet physicians prescribe antibiotics for viral infections that do not require an antibiotic, such as the common cold, the flu and bronchitis. Food allergies are the number one cause of recurrent ear infections in children, yet as the medical journal JAMA November 26 reports, many doctors routinely use antibiotics that produce little health benefit though they contribute to the spread of drug-resistant bacteria. The experts advocate that except in extreme cases, infants with ear infections should be initially treated with 'symptom-relieving' drugs such as Acetaminophen and nasal decongestants, and consider antibiotics if symptoms persist past three days.

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