Author: Matt Davis / Source: Big Think
- CDC estimates say that 154 million antibiotic prescriptions are given out each year, 30 percent of which are unnecessary.
- The overuse of antibiotics have led to the rise of nigh-untreatable superbugs.
- Phage therapy offers a promising new way to overcome antibiotic resistance, but it also comes with its own risks and challenges.
In 1928, Alexander Fleming had just returned from vacation to his disorderly laboratory when he discovered he had made a mistake. He had been researching the bacteria Staphylococcus and had accidentally left one culture uncovered, exposing it to the environment of his laboratory and compromising the culture. The culture appeared to be covered in a fungus that had destroyed the bacterial colonies in its immediate proximity. Investigating further, he discovered the fungus had released what he initially called “mold juice.”
Later, he would call this substance penicillin after the fungus’s genus, Penicillium. This marked the start of the antibiotic era.
Bacteria had been the cause of many different forms of human suffering, so the discovery of a substance that could suddenly cure scarlet fever, meningitis, pneumonia, and other diseases was met with wild enthusiasm. Unfortunately, we became a little too enthusiastic.
We distributed penicillin and other antibiotics, such as tetracycline and erythromycin, to soldiers, sick civilians, livestock, and often to people who were sick with viruses or other conditions unrelated to bacteria. It was only in 1944 that we first uncovered strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis that could resist antibiotics.
It took some time afterwards for the scientific community to fully accept that our overuse of antibiotics was “teaching” bacteria to defend against it. They were evolving to release chemicals that inactivated the antibiotic, learning to pump antibacterial chemicals outside of their cell walls, changing their structures, and developing a variety of other defense mechanisms.
Bacteria are simple, prolific, and therefore evolve quickly, and pretty soon medical texts began to issue this piece of advice: “The first rule of antibiotics is try not to use them, and the second rule is try not to use too many of them.”
Addicted to antibiotics
CDC
Clumps of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteria viewed under a scanning electron microscope.
But we still overuse antibiotics all the time. In fact, the CDC estimates that 154 million antibiotic prescriptions are issued each year, and a full 30 percent of those prescriptions are unnecessary. They’re simply too useful not to deploy under the right conditions. Now, new superbugs are emerging that are completely or mostly resistant to antibiotic treatment, meaning many of the ills that once plagued humanity could return in force. What are we going to do about this?
Phage therapy: The new antibiotics?
There are a few methods that may help us contend with this new challenge, but one of the most promising fields of research is phage therapy. Bacteriophages (or just phages)…
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