Implication of Antimicrobial Resistance in Medicine

Introduction

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been on the rise over the last two decades. Superbugs are microorganisms that establish antimicrobial resistance and are commonly present in the air, water, and soil. When superbugs come into contact with the human body, they contain parasites, fungi, bacteria, and viruses (Cantas et al. 2013). As a result, managing and treating most infectious diseases has been a significant problem for the health sector. Long-term disorders, injuries, or even death must be considered. In addition to that, most patients suffer major problems especially organ transplantation since many of them are vulnerable to other infectious diseases, hence resistance to the antimicrobial will worsen their condition. The significance of this topic is based on its ability to unravel challenges that lead to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), treatment of emerging infectious diseases and their innovative mitigations. Finally, the topic shows the correlation between AMR and medicine (Berendonk et al., 2015).

Research Objective

Therefore, the aim of this research is to analyze the implication of antimicrobial resistance in medicine as it’s becoming a global problem.

Analysis of the Topic

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a condition whereby the antimicrobial drugs for instance antimalarial, antivirals, anthelminthic, antibiotics, and antifungals are unable to fight the pathogens (superbugs). AMR always occurs as a result of genetic mutations both in human beings and animals. It can be contracted by humans from animal products or through human being themselves. Some of the things that promote antimicrobial resistance include; poor sanitation, unsuitable food and hand hygiene, and poor disease control. As such, the entire community can be affected if not infected economically as much money will be needed to treat people who have become resistant to the available antimicrobials.

According to Tanwar et al. (2014), there are a number of causes resulting in antimicrobial resistance including overuse, misappropriation and unrestrained use of the antimicrobial drugs. For instance, most people prefer self-medication using the antimicrobial drugs every time they feel unwell rather than visiting the health facility. As a result, the microorganisms mutate the genes of the antimicrobial drugs making it unable to fight them back. The health care department therefore faces a big challenge as people will visit their facilities after they have experienced drug resistance. However, this may lead to hospital congestions due to increased number of resistant patient visits and also hospital programs may come to a standstill due to expensive medications encountered.

In addition to that, there are several mechanisms in which the antimicrobial resistance occurs. Firstly, present target alteration whereby some microorganisms reprogramme themselves to prevent being the obvious target. Secondly, antimicrobial resistance can exist through protein synthesis inhibition. This is takes place through interference of the function of the target cell, which in this case is the ribosome. As a result, there will be no protein synthesis reaction taking place. Another mechanism is alteration in cell membrane permeability whereby the antimicrobial drugs will be unable to penetrate into the cell (Berendonk et al., 2015). Similarly, there is interference of cell wall synthesis whereby the antimicrobial kills the bacteria hence preventing the synthesis of peptidoglycan layer in the wall of the bacteria. Furthermore, nucleic acids are requirements in the replication of the cells. However, some of the antimicrobial drugs such as nalidixic acid work against the enzymes that are essential in the process and by so doing they inhibit the process from taking place. Finally, some antimicrobial drugs act on specific cellular procedures which the microorganism depends upon for survival. As a result, lack of essential needs for survival destroys the pathogen.

Considering the report from, Antibiotic Resistance threats in the United States, 2013, about 2 million people got infected with pathogens that are resistant to antimicrobials, while 23000 of the victims died. Additionally, 11285 deaths have been reported in USA each year over multi-drug resistance. However, there has been a myriad innovation and mitigation programs to aid in the fight against AMR over the recent years (Cantas et al., 2013).

Discussion and Conclusion

The research therefore found out that antimicrobial resistance has got a great impact on medicine. The increased expenses at the hospital is of much impact as the hospital now diverts money from other drug non related budgets to purchasing of drugs for patients experiencing antimicrobial resistance. Also, there is reduced hospital activity because of a convergent focus on how to deal cases of antimicrobial resistance rather than the obvious divergent focus on various activities of the hospital. Furthermore, research showed an increase in morbidity and mortality which lowers the achievement of the goals set at a particular health facility as much money is spent to treat the immobile (Berendonk et al., 2015).

In conclusion, a number of strategies have been set aside to help reduce the rate at which antimicrobial resistance is occurring. For example, “WHO Strategy for Malaria Elimination in the Greater Mekong subregion (2015-2030)” was introduced in a number of countries. Similarly, the community should be sensitized and educated on the importance of good hygiene and proper sanitation.

References

Berendonk, T. U., Manaia, C. M., Merlin, C., Fatta-Kassinos, D., Cytryn, E., Walsh, F., & Kreuzinger, N. (2015). Tackling antibiotic resistance: the environmental framework. Nature Reviews Microbiology, 13(5), 310-317.

Cantas, L., Shah, S. Q., Cavaco, L. M., Manaia, C. M., Walsh, F., Popowska, M., & Sørum, H. (2013). A brief multi-disciplinary review on antimicrobial resistance in medicine and its linkage to the global environmental microbiota. Frontiers in Microbiology, 4.

Tanwar, J., Das, S., Fatima, Z., & Hameed, S. (2014). Multidrug resistance: an emerging crisis. Interdisciplinary perspectives on infectious diseases, 2014.