Biology Antibiotics Assignment
Introduction
Bacteria are microscopic prokaryotic cells, they are very common and are found in every habitat on earth (Introducing Microbes, n.d.). There are many harmless bacteria however bacteria are the cause of many diseases including salmonella, pneumonia and meningitis (Cynthia Haines,2013). To combat these diseases caused by bacteria in 1928 Alexander Discovered the first antibiotic, it was used to treat soldiers in ww2 with infections which could previously lead to their death (American Chemical Society, n.d.). 88 years later and the crude death rate from infectious disease in the United States of America 1900 to 1996 have dropped from just under 800 to lower than 200 per annum (Control of Infectious …show more content…
Medical tourism is the act of travelling to another country for the purpose of getting medical treatment in that particular country (Wikipedia, 2016). The top destinations for medical tourism are Cosa Rica, India, Israel and Thailand and the most common procedures for medical travellers are cosmetic surgery, dentistry, reproduction technology (IVF) (Patients Beyond Borders, patientsbeyondborders.com). Medical Tourism is becoming so popular because of the prices of the treatment available in these countries, eg. In India savings can be 65% to 90% and an estimate by Patients Beyond Borders is that the medical tourism rate is growing between 15% and 25%. (Patients Beyond Borders, patientsbeyondborders.com). However a risk of medical tourism is the spreading of antibiotic resistant bacteria. Many of the countries popular for medical tourism have poor living conditions and hygiene, and with that comes different types of bacteria which would not be found in many countries and may be antibiotic resistant. When travelling home this bacterium may spread causing an outbreak of untreatable bacteria in a country that will not have experienced this before. In order to keep antibiotic resistant bacteria from spreading to diffent countries more regulations have to be put in place for …show more content…
This issue can be addressed in various ways. Doctors have to be stricter with prescribing antibiotics, there has to be more testing done to find out which patience need antibiotics as statistics show that in the U.S approximately 50% of antibiotics are prescribed wrongly (CDC, 2016). Medical tourism also has to be tightly controlled with a government tax for medical tourists to bring the prices up to make it unnecessary to visit any other country for medical needs. A warning sticker must also be placed on all animal products which have had antibiotics used on them, the warning must be bold and visible to the consumer and contain a link to a website with information on the risks of consuming animal products which antibiotics have been used on. If all these steps to prevent the spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria are taken, then antibiotics will stay effective for longer leading to a healthy human
Introduction
Bacteria are microscopic prokaryotic cells, they are very common and are found in every habitat on earth (Introducing Microbes, n.d.). There are many harmless bacteria however bacteria are the cause of many diseases including salmonella, pneumonia and meningitis (Cynthia Haines,2013). To combat these diseases caused by bacteria in 1928 Alexander Discovered the first antibiotic, it was used to treat soldiers in ww2 with infections which could previously lead to their death (American Chemical Society, n.d.). 88 years later and the crude death rate from infectious disease in the United States of America 1900 to 1996 have dropped from just under 800 to lower than 200 per annum (Control of Infectious …show more content…
Medical tourism is the act of travelling to another country for the purpose of getting medical treatment in that particular country (Wikipedia, 2016). The top destinations for medical tourism are Cosa Rica, India, Israel and Thailand and the most common procedures for medical travellers are cosmetic surgery, dentistry, reproduction technology (IVF) (Patients Beyond Borders, patientsbeyondborders.com). Medical Tourism is becoming so popular because of the prices of the treatment available in these countries, eg. In India savings can be 65% to 90% and an estimate by Patients Beyond Borders is that the medical tourism rate is growing between 15% and 25%. (Patients Beyond Borders, patientsbeyondborders.com). However a risk of medical tourism is the spreading of antibiotic resistant bacteria. Many of the countries popular for medical tourism have poor living conditions and hygiene, and with that comes different types of bacteria which would not be found in many countries and may be antibiotic resistant. When travelling home this bacterium may spread causing an outbreak of untreatable bacteria in a country that will not have experienced this before. In order to keep antibiotic resistant bacteria from spreading to diffent countries more regulations have to be put in place for …show more content…
This issue can be addressed in various ways. Doctors have to be stricter with prescribing antibiotics, there has to be more testing done to find out which patience need antibiotics as statistics show that in the U.S approximately 50% of antibiotics are prescribed wrongly (CDC, 2016). Medical tourism also has to be tightly controlled with a government tax for medical tourists to bring the prices up to make it unnecessary to visit any other country for medical needs. A warning sticker must also be placed on all animal products which have had antibiotics used on them, the warning must be bold and visible to the consumer and contain a link to a website with information on the risks of consuming animal products which antibiotics have been used on. If all these steps to prevent the spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria are taken, then antibiotics will stay effective for longer leading to a healthy human