I’ve been preaching about the misuse of antibiotics for years, and the public at large is finally getting the message. “Antibiotic resistance and superbugs such as MRSA,” I’d say with the utmost conviction, “is due to so many unnecessary prescriptions for viral colds and flu!” That sounds familiar right? That’s what they taught us to say in school! Now, after all of that, the American Academy of Microbiology (AAM) reports that the rise of microbial resistance to antibiotics is really multifaceted. Other factors including sanitation, hygiene and environmental factors may share equal blame.
A report entitled “Antibiotic Resistance: An Ecological Perspective on an Old Problem,” was published by the AAM late last year, and basically stated that microbial resistance is a inevitable evolutionary change, and no single factor is entirely at fault. It went on to say that thus far, the cause of bacterial resistance is still unknown and furthermore, unstoppable. More research is needed that encompasses many other disciplines of study such as medicine, organic chemistry, environment and microbiology. Only a collaborative effort, along with worldwide education and participation will yield positive results.
The driving factor behind their conclusion is that the rate of antibiotic resistance is increasing across the board, and not just limited to the commonly abused medications. It was further suggested that poor hygiene and sanitation was perhaps a much more important factor than previously thought. With that, MRSA comes to mind as we all witnessed it morph from being strictly a hospital acquired resistant staph infection, to being dubbed, The Scourge of Skid row and spreading like wildfire through the homeless populations. Also, environmental use of antibiotics in food and farm animals is believed to play a significant role in increase antibiotic resistance.
Whatever the cause, it looks like resistant microbes are here to stay. . . and mutate. It may not be possible to find a cure for each and every genetic mutation that comes down the line and becomes dubbed “resistant.” Certainly, it’s not reasonable to think that we can come up with a cure as fast as the thousands of strains of bacteria may change. We can however, continue early surveillance of disease, prevent spread, promote education to developing countries, and improve our natural immune systems to effectively deal with rouge bacteria.
What a great resource!