Just adding to my earlier post on my TED-ed talk on Antibiotic Resistance, I'm happy to say I have recently been featured on the official TED website (link below) so be sure to check it out (including my earlier post)!
Link to TED blog post:
Link to earlier post:
http://thebeautyofmedicine.blogspot.com/2013/12/antibiotic-resistance-have-we-reached.html
Reflection: I believe the issue of antibiotic resistance and the increase of superbugs is one of the most interesting problems in the research field of pathology. I find this incredibly interesting because antibiotic resistance has the potential to set us to the post-antibiotic era, an era where antibiotics are useless and ineffective. I also find it pretty frightening, since we rely heavily on antibiotics from strep throat, to gonorrhea, to cancer treatments and organ transplants. Antibiotics have become a part of our daily lives, but it is absolutely terrifying to think about how we would possibly be able to live without them. According to the 2013 Threat Report released by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, there are approximately 2 million cases in the United States dealing with this issue and a total of 23,000 deaths that have directly resulted from antibiotic resistance. Our misuse and overuse of antibiotics, ever since Fleming discovered penicillin, has led us straight into this crisis. What I find amazing, however, is how the bacteria are able to spread their resistance. Many may think the resistance genes spread by Darwin’s theory of natural selection, but that is not the case. The fascinating way bacteria spread their resistance so rapidly is through one of three ways: transformation, transduction, or conjugation. These three means allow the bacteria to transfer their resistance genes extremely quickly, and thus this is a growing international crisis. This gene transfer is, for lack of better words, absolutely mind-boggling! I also find that the way bacteria are resistant to drugs is incredibly enthralling. Bacteria can be resistant by breaking down the antibiotic, changing the binding site of the antibiotic, altering the biochemical pathway of the antibiotic, or by making an efflux pump. I definitely want to be able to learn more about these ways of resistance.
Reflection: I believe the issue of antibiotic resistance and the increase of superbugs is one of the most interesting problems in the research field of pathology. I find this incredibly interesting because antibiotic resistance has the potential to set us to the post-antibiotic era, an era where antibiotics are useless and ineffective. I also find it pretty frightening, since we rely heavily on antibiotics from strep throat, to gonorrhea, to cancer treatments and organ transplants. Antibiotics have become a part of our daily lives, but it is absolutely terrifying to think about how we would possibly be able to live without them. According to the 2013 Threat Report released by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, there are approximately 2 million cases in the United States dealing with this issue and a total of 23,000 deaths that have directly resulted from antibiotic resistance. Our misuse and overuse of antibiotics, ever since Fleming discovered penicillin, has led us straight into this crisis. What I find amazing, however, is how the bacteria are able to spread their resistance. Many may think the resistance genes spread by Darwin’s theory of natural selection, but that is not the case. The fascinating way bacteria spread their resistance so rapidly is through one of three ways: transformation, transduction, or conjugation. These three means allow the bacteria to transfer their resistance genes extremely quickly, and thus this is a growing international crisis. This gene transfer is, for lack of better words, absolutely mind-boggling! I also find that the way bacteria are resistant to drugs is incredibly enthralling. Bacteria can be resistant by breaking down the antibiotic, changing the binding site of the antibiotic, altering the biochemical pathway of the antibiotic, or by making an efflux pump. I definitely want to be able to learn more about these ways of resistance.
Above all, what is the
most captivating concept in antibiotic resistance is the rise of superbugs.
These superbugs are resistant to every antibiotic we have on the planet! As CDC
director Thomas Frieden said about CRE, a type of superbug, “CRE are nightmare
bacteria. Our strongest antibiotics
don’t work and patients are left with potentially untreatable infections.”
Clearly, this is a huge problem, since patients cannot be treated for these
illnesses involving superbugs and is, indisputably, one of the most compelling
concepts in pathology research today. I am eager to see this issue solved,
since it is a major international crisis, since disease that we consider mild
or treatable, such as strep, will then have the potential to kill us since we
can no longer defend ourselves with antibiotics. The rise of superubugs, in
effect, would be absolutely chaotic unless we take immediate action since
cancer treatments, organ transplants, and most treatable infections will become
nightmares and we will be in the terror of the post-antibiotic era.
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