Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria

Medical health research papers on the determinants of health are becoming more and more focused on the occurrence of antibiotic resistant bacteria. Your research paper can focus on several interesting topics regarding antibiotic resistant bacteria, include any of the following listed below:

• Trace the history of antibiotic resistance in America or other developed nations
• Examine one case of antibiotic resistance and trace its origin
• Speculate on the future of antibiotics and resistance

In recent years, due in large part to the overuse of antibiotics, many bacteria and other pathogens have developed antibiotic resistance. These pathogens, known as super bugs, have the potential to severely impact human life.

The Staphylococcus aureus bacterium, known as Staph infection, was the first bacteria to develop a resistance to penicillin, back in 1947. This bacterium, known as Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is quite common in hospitals across the world. Community-acquired MRSA is an epidemic responsible for numerous deaths from progressive diseases, including necrotizing pneumonia, sepsis and necrotizing fasciitis. MRSA is proving resistant to even the latest generation of antibiotics.

Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria and E. Coli

Salmonella and E. coli bacteria can be acquired through contaminated food and water, resulting in hospitalization and death, and many strains of E. coli in particular have developed antibiotic resistance since 1993.

Tuberculosis, once fatal, has made a major comeback across the globe, and has mutated into a resistant strain known as MDR TB (Multi drug Resistant TB), resulting in 150,000 annual deaths. The development of MDR TB has been linked to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Finally, gonorrhea, an STI that was treatable with penicillin, has developed antibiotic resistance since the 1970s, through both chromosomal mutation and drug-resistance.

Antibiotics

Medical technology developed several drugs in the 1950s that promised an end to many bacteria-based diseases, including:

• Penicillin
• Streptomycin
• Chloramphenicol

Viral pathogens have not been as successful, except for vaccines, which were responsible for almost eliminating polio and smallpox. By the mid-1960s, many believed that infectious diseases had been conquered. However, the modern outbreaks of new forms of influenza, HIV, Ebola and other deadly diseases have shown that infectious diseases are flourishing in the world.