Antibiotics have seemed to save our lives against deadly diseases, but are they now ruining our chances to fight off resistant microbes? This article written by Arjun Srinivasan talks about the effects of over usage of antibiotics. Scientists have known that antibiotics would someday stop working because bacteria and other microbes share their DNA and are able to resist antibiotics. Medical researchers want to save lives and reduce the cost of medicinal treatments. It will take many years to develop a new drug or antibiotic that will be one step ahead of the resistant microbes.

For now scientists from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have come to the conclusion that medical personal need to limit their “handing out” of antibiotics. In the past antibiotics were prescribed to almost anyone with any symptoms of an illness. It is now proven that over prescribing antibiotics has contributed to the resistant strains of bacteria and other microorganisms.

                There is need for improvement according to the CDC, “One in three prescriptions written for the drug vancomycin included a potential error, such as prescribing without proper evaluation.” There is not much room for errors because antibiotics have led to a huge increase of antibiotic resistant microbes. The new improvements are called antibiotic stewardship; it will help save lives and preserve antibiotics. These stewardship programs will ensure that patients are accurately diagnosed, are given the correct antibiotic, given the right dosage, and for the correct duration time. This will help to limit the microbes from becoming stronger faster. It should also help with medical costs and waste.

                Microbes work fast and are smart, they have become resistant to every antibiotic drug that is on the market. Even when new drugs arise, it will not take them long to figure out how to avoid destruction. The CDC and the new stewardship programs will help to control the spread of resistant microbes. It will also help people with illnesses recover. 

 

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/can-we-stop-the-end-of-effective-antibiotics/