Unnecessary Use Of Antibiotics

When people think of the “end of the world,” they usually imagine a world-ending meteor, rising tides that reach up into the tops of skyscrapers, or any other disaster that the creative minds at Hollywood have already made into a motion picture event. Yet, one apocalyptic event rarely pops into the minds of people when they imagine the end of mankind as we know it: superbugs. They are not giant insects, but rather, something much scarier. They are antibiotic-resistant bacteria that are unable to be killed by one of the most important aspects of modern health. Not only are these invisible microbes just as deadly and disastrous as a hostile alien race or an environmental catastrophe, but they are also a reality, already affecting thousands of …show more content…
Simply put, superbugs are bacteria that have evolved to resist certain antibiotics. Although not resistant to every antibiotic, a superbug can overcome the hurdles of regular medicine and may require the use of more expensive and dangerous antibiotics to be killed. Even more so, any of the hundreds of bacterial diseases that exist can develop a resistance to antibiotics. The cause of this resistance stems from the unnecessary use of antibiotics (i.e. using them to combat viral or fungal infections) and not consuming the necessary dosage that is prescribed. If left untreated and unchecked, these bacteria can evolve a resistance to any antibiotic thrown at them. As the World Health Organization (WHO) expressed, “[antimicrobial resistance] is an increasingly serious threat to global public health that requires action across all government sectors and society (WHO).” Being able to circumvent the foundation on which modern health relies on makes the threat of superbugs one of the most challenging and unforgiving issues of our …show more content…
Although it is true that most are resistant to only a certain handful of medicines, with other stronger antibiotics proving fruitful in killing these dangerous microbes, this is not always the case. As recent as the summer of 2016, a Pennsylvania woman was found with a strain of E. coli that was resistant to Colistin, a “last-ditch” antibiotic that was seen as the last line of defense. Bacteria can even evolve to become resistant to the most powerful antibiotics, reducing the amount of effective treatments that can help until there are none left. This invisible threat is slowly eating away at both our bodies and the pool of resources and effective antibiotics that we have at our disposal. Unfortunately, bacteria are always able to overcome our latest advances and become one step closer to dethroning humans at the top of the food