It Is Time to Go Anti-Antibiotics

1179 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Research on antibiotic resistance

Antibiotics are one of the greatest advancements in medical history; the saviour of those suffering from innumerable ailments; everything from the bubonic plague, to sexually transmitted infections. It is clear that these drugs are essential to treat many diseases…but the common cold? Antibiotic misuse causes an increased risk of potential health problems for patients, bacteria becoming resilient to these valuable medicines, and amplified health care costs.
Antibiotics may be the cure for many illnesses, but needless prescriptions do more harm than good for individuals. Taking antibiotics when not needed may make users feel worse. Many side effects such as diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, thrush, allergic reactions to the drugs, and even life-threatening bowel inflammations can occur when using antibiotics (NPS Medicinewise, 2012, para. 2-4). When treating a severe infection or illness, these side effects are trivial compared to the cost-benefit ratio the antibiotics provide; however, when people misuse antibiotics by taking them for viral infections, they are putting themselves at risk for increased discomfort and potentially life-threatening side effects. Antibiotics also kill the healthy bacteria in your body. Dr. Martin Blaser states “evidence…suggests antibiotics may permanently change the beneficial bacteria that we’re carrying” (Conley, 2011, para. 3). Antibiotics cannot differentiate beneficial bacteria from harmful bacteria. By taking unwarranted antibiotics, individuals destroy healthful bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract. In turn, harmful bacteria gather, and it is hypothesized that many illnesses such as: Type 1 Diabetes, allergies, and inflammatory bowel disease are on the rise as a result (Conley, 2011, para. 4). Peop...

... middle of paper ...

...eloping medicine that does not produce as much profit for businesses. Hence, if antibiotics stop being misused, money will not have to be spent on expensive treatment, longer hospital stays, or the creation of new medicines.

Antibiotic misuse has significant hazardous ramifications on the global population. Considering the numerous irreparable social and economic consequences such as augmented harm to individuals, the exponentiation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and an undesirable impact on the economy, great care must be taken by those empowered to protect the sanctity of life when treating illness. Physicians must display leadership required to correct this complacent medicinal practice by refusing to provide unneeded drugs. In addition, more resources must be allocated to research and education in order to facilitate a more effective harm reduction strategy.

Show More
Related

  • Addie Rerecich Case Study Answers

    994 Words  | 2 Pages

    Public health officials estimate that up to 50% of all antibiotics use in the U.S is either unnecessary or in appropriate.

    Read More

  • Fahrenheit 451: The Overuse Of Prescription Drugs In America

    1160 Words  | 3 Pages

    According to USA Today, U.S. doctors are prescribing enough antibiotics to give to 4 out of 5 Americans every year, an alarming pace that suggests they are being excruciatingly overused. In fact, Dr. Aunna Pourang from MD states, “to give you an idea of how high the pressure is to prescribe antibiotics, I didn’t get a job once because during the interview I told the lead physician that I only prescribe antibiotic prescriptions when they are warranted.” The development and widespread obsession of antibiotics, or drugs that kill bacteria and thereby reduce infection, has helped billions of people live longer, healthier lives. Unfortunately, the more we rely on and abuse antibiotics, the more bacteria develop resistance to them, which makes treating infections that much more challenging and leads to the growth of drug-resistant strains of bacteria. Research from the Center of Disease Control found that two million people in the United States become infected with antibiotic resistant bacteria, while 23,000 people die from such infections each year. Americans often aren’t informed on the power of the human body and rush to assumptions when perfection isn’t present. In a nutshell, the obsession of antibiotics is quite deadly and needs to be addressed before it’s too

    Read More

  • Antibiotic Resistance Case Study

    1099 Words  | 3 Pages

    Explanation would include that antibiotics are only appropriate in bacterial infections and that viral illnesses do not respond to antibiotic treatment. Viral illnesses include runny nose, colds, bronchitis, flu, sore throats, and fluid in the middle ear. Bacterial illnesses include whooping cough, strep throat, and urinary tract infections (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2014c). Explain that antibiotic overuse, which is estimated that 50% of antibiotics prescribed are not necessary, leads to development of drug-resistant germs and that antibiotics are important in combating life-threatening bacterial infections. By abusing antibiotics for ineffective viral treatments, it increases the likelihood for an individual to become infected with an antibiotic-resistant bacterial infection in the future (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2014a). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at http://www.cdc.gov have wonderful handouts that can be given to patients and their families to better understand the implications and proper use of antibiotics and the consequences of abuse.

    Read More

  • The War on Pharmaceutical Companies

    1185 Words  | 3 Pages

    In America, it has become a battle to earn a high paying job to cope with the expenses of a typical American. It has become even more of a battle for some people to afford medical prescriptions to keep healthy. Health becomes a crucial issue when discussed among people. No matter what, at one point or another, everyone is going to stand as a victim of the pharmaceutical industry. The bottom line is Americans are paying excessive amounts of money for medical prescriptions. Health-Care spending in the U.S. rose a stunning 9.3% in 2002, which is the greatest increase for the past eleven years. (Steele 46) Many pharmaceutical companies are robbing their clients by charging extreme rates for their products.

    Read More

  • The CDC's Campaign to Prevent Antimicrobial Resistance

    1040 Words  | 3 Pages

    Nurses should take a leading role in reducing the impact of disease on patients and influence the expansion of evidence based infection prevention practice. Antimicrobial resistance prevention must remain a huge priority. In times of opposing priorities concerning patient safety, progress has been made in undertaking these bacteria’s and infections. The outlook of a near future without helpful antibiotics should not be dismissed, and all us in positions of influence should encourage and educate the conscientious use of antimicrobials seriously and do what we can to stop the situation from spreading.

    Read More

  • Superbugs Essay

    2729 Words  | 6 Pages

    Resistance arises from mutations that are not under the control of humans, but the evolution of bacteria has been sped along by the overexposure of antibiotics to both people and animals. The number of antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria in an area is closely related to the frequency that antibiotics that are prescribed (Todar, 2012). Patients often unnecessarily demand antibiotics to treat common colds or simple illnesses that are not caused by bacteria. Instead, these infections are caused by viruses which, unlike bacteria, are unaffected by antibiotics. Incorrect diagnosis can also lead patients to using unnecessary antibiotics, which can sometimes be even more dangerous than otherwise left untreated. Besides the fact that antibiotics kill off beneficial bacteria in the intestines, misuse of antibiotics provides an opportunity ...

    Read More

  • Excessie Use of Antibiotics

    1580 Words  | 4 Pages

    Over the years humans have tried every possibility to overcome the health problems, spread of epidemics and infections, disease control and have worked towards a healthy society free of disease and health problems. They have succeeded to a great extent. The book “Good germs, bad germs” describes that though the life expectancy is now far more as it was in previous eras. Epidemic problems and infectious diseases are now getting lesser and lesser and humans are being treated successfully. The hygienic conditions have also been improved so as to ensure least growth of microbes, germs, parasites and bacteria. Antibiotics have been invented to address diseases and infections caused by bacteria and viruses. With all these substantial efforts the biologists, physicians and scientists have triggered another epidemic which is even more severe. They have killed those microbes and bacterial species which were human friendly and as a result of either their disruption or mutation, pathogenic bacteria have even become more active and resistant to treatments. This has led to increased ineffectiveness of antibiotic drugs, low immunity and various infections and inflammatory diseases. The chlorinated water for drinking and food processing along with excessive hygienic conditions indicates our fight against these bacteria and germs. Further, these antibiotics are even given to the livestock which becomes our food and as result many of their resistant germs end up in our digestive tract and other organs. Thus, the war against microbes through excessive cleanliness and use of antibiotics has resulted in antibiotic resistance among humans, which has become one of the prominent problems of medical science

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of The Pharmaceutical Industry

    953 Words  | 2 Pages

    When a drug does make it to market and is successful, companies need to make up for the money spent in development as well as the cost of drugs which did not make it to market. After all investments are taken care of, there is still the need for profit. Some are concerned that if the United States government implements control over prescription drug costs, then private firms will be less motivated to invest in pharmaceutical development, fearing they will not make their investment back. This would supply pharmaceutical companies with less finances for the research and development process. According to the information collected by Abbott and Vernon, a drop in the price of pharmaceuticals would result in significant loss in investment in research and development (Abbott and Vernon).

    Read More

  • Hunting the Nightmare Bacteria

    1636 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the last decade, the number of prescriptions for antibiotics has increases. Even though, antibiotics are helpful, an excess amount of antibiotics can be dangerous. Quite often antibiotics are wrongly prescribed to cure viruses when they are meant to target bacteria. Antibiotics are a type of medicine that is prone to kill microorganisms, or bacteria. By examining the PBS documentary Hunting the Nightmare Bacteria and the article “U.S. government taps GlaxoSmithKline for New Antibiotics” by Ben Hirschler as well as a few other articles can help depict the problem that is of doctors prescribing antibiotics wrongly or excessively, which can led to becoming harmful to the body.

    Read More

  • The Overuse of Antibiotics

    3053 Words  | 7 Pages

    Alexander Fleming started the history of antibiotics in the 1920's with his discovery of penicillin.When penicillin was first discovered and used widely, it was touted as a wonder drug, and consequently was used as one.Though not necessarily harmful to the patient penicillin was used for much more infections than it was able to combat.Today the same practice is observed in the medical profession, however at this point it is due more to the detriment of an uneducated public.Studies have been carried out that show the huge over usage of antibiotics.In the seventies Soyka et al, concluded, "60% of physicians surveyed gave antibiotics for the treatment of the common cold."[3], and by common knowledge the common cold is a virus, something that cannot be treated by an antibiotic.Nyquist

    Read More

  • Essay On Antibiotics On Recovery

    1457 Words  | 3 Pages

    Antibiotics have been critical in fighting bacteria-caused diseases for the past 60 years. Bacteria in the human body are able to reproduce at a rapid rate and this is a huge problem when the bacteria are disease-causing. Antibiotics are drugs that are able to stop bacterial growth, and kill off bacteria in living organisms.

    Read More

  • The Discovery of Antibiotics by Alexander Fleming

    3182 Words  | 7 Pages

    There are many medical professionals who believe that the rise of antibiotic resistance is a result of the overuse and misuse of antibiotics. Dr. Jim Wilde, a paediatric emergency medicine physician at the Medical College of Georgia believes that the medical profession is losing the war against resistance...

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Antibiotic Resistance

    1336 Words  | 3 Pages

    What if there were no treatment for strep throat? Or pneumonia? Or sinus infections? It is hard to imagine life without medicine for these illnesses. But what if the antibiotics used to treat bacterial infections such as strep throat and pneumonia stopped working? What if the bacteria were stronger than the antibiotics? The threat of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections is an increasing concern for healthcare providers, and it is important to reduce the misuse and overuse of antibiotics to maintain control of bacterial diseases.

    Read More

  • Pros And Cons Of Patents In The Pharmaceutical Industry

    1477 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...ents expiring as drugs become available at cheaper costs and therefore more people can gain access to these drugs, including 3rd world countries. It is clear to see that there are many pros and cons to patents in the pharmaceutical industry. The system that is in motion at present between the big pharmaceutical companies, the generics industry and the WHO seems to be working efficiently. Some may complain that the pharmaceutical companies are creating too big a monopoly and are greedy but without them discovery of new medicines wouldn’t happen. Patents have thus far ensured that inventors and researchers reap economic rewards for their work and new treatments and new medicines are made available on a regular basis. Essentially without patents there would be no innovation and discovery of new medicines. And without that we would be no better off than we are now.

    Read More

  • Positive Externalities In Health Care

    715 Words  | 2 Pages

    “An interesting byproduct of the newer solutions to medical dilemmas is the slowly growing resistance of antibiotics in bacteria (“Externalities”, 2016)”. The person who is affected by the negative externality concerning the use of antibiotics by others will see it as lowered utility: either subjective displeasure or potentially explicit costs, such as higher medical expenses in the future to treat infections that could have otherwise been treated easily at a lower cost (Ditah, 2011). In order to mitigate antibiotic resistance, healthcare workers should stop prescribing antibiotics unless it’s truly necessary. Additionally, the government should make more of an effort to tackle antibiotic resistance. People should also be educated about how overuse is

    Read More

More about It Is Time to Go Anti-Antibiotics

Open Document