Resistant Microbes, Antibiotic Abuse, and the Threat to Public Health

Resistant Microbes, Antibiotic Abuse, and the Threat to Public Health
Fathom

Sessions

Session 1

Session 2

Emerging Bacterial Resistance Issues

ising that less than 50 years into the so-called miracle antibiotic era we are facing the problem of microbes resistant to antibiotics. Alexander Fleming, the Scottish scientist who serendipitously discovered penicillin in 1928, predicted this in a quote from a 1945 New York Times interview, saying "the misuse of penicillin could be the propagation of mutant forms of bacteria that would resist the new miracle drug." Fleming was not clairvoyant. He simply understood the dynamics of Darwinian evolution.

Around the mid-1990s there started to be a flurry of reports in the lay press such as on the cover of Newsweek magazine in March of 1994; led "End of the Miracle Drugs." Later that year in September, on the cover of Time magazine a title read "Revenge of the Killer Microbes." One of my favorite quotations is from pop artist Alanis Morissette's song "Thank You" released in 1998. She states, "how about getting off these antibiotics?"

Dr. Randy Regal introduces you to the pressing problem of microbes that are resistant to antibiotics.
(2:15 min)


	GRiEF (VRE) and CATASTROSTAPH
	This table charts the development of antibiotics against the degree of resistances encountered in four types of microbes. Editor's Note: In the sessions that follow, this table will be referenced and discussed in detail. We recommend that you print out a copy to consult as you progress.

Now what are some of the bugs? There is a veritable alphabet soup of "pernicious prokaryotes on parade" and I will talk about each one of these with some regard:

MRSA, GISA, VISA, and VRSA, the last of which I call "Catastrostaph"
PRE and VRE, which I call "GRiEF" short for glycopeptide-resistant enterococcus faecalis and/or faecium
DRSP, or drug-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae
GNR, or gram-negative rod organisms

Session 1

Session 2