Antibiotic Resistance and its Leading Cause (Essay Sample)

Antibiotic Resistance
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Antibiotic Resistance
There is an accelerated emergence of resistant bacteria developing globally, endangering the efficacy of antibiotics, which have been in use for a long time and have saved millions of lives. Decades later, after the first patient was treated with antibiotics, bacterial infections are now posing a threat once again. Antibiotics were first prescribed in the 1940s to manage severe conditions. Since then, resistance has eventually been noted in nearly all antibiotics that have been developed. However, the pharmaceutical industry has created many new antibiotics to try and solve the resistance problem.
Bacteria can use a variety of defense strategies to resist the effects of antibiotics. They can restrict access by antibiotics by changing the entry paths or by limiting the number of entryways. For instance, gram-negative bacteria have an outer membrane that protects them from the surrounding environment. These bacteria can selectively prevent the antibiotic from penetrating through (Andrew Duong (33 2015). Bacteria such as pseudomonas aeruginosa can eliminate antibiotics such as beta-lactams and flour quinolones using pumps embedded in their cell walls that remove the drugs that enter the cell.
Other bacteria change or destroy the antibiotics with enzymes that break down the drug. An example is Klebsiella pneumonia bacteria which produces enzymes known as carbapenemases which break down carbapenem drugs and other beta-lactam drugs. Bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus develop new cell process that bypasses the effects of the antibiotic such as trimethoprim.
All the above mechanisms then lead to the development of resistance if antibiotics are misused. Any bacterium that gets through an antibiotic treatment can proliferate and pass on its resistant properties (Mir Saleem 2019). However, it is essential to note that antibiotic resistance does not refer to the body becoming