The Not-So-Phantom Menace of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)

                Antimicrobial resistance (AMR), also known as antibiotic resistance has been a rampant problem in the 21^st century (Davies S.C., Gibbens N., 2013). Due to reckless prescribing of antibiotics in the past for other infections besides bacterial—such as fungal and viral infections—has bred multiple strains of AMR bacteria such as staphylococcus aureus (MRSA or ‘golden staph’) and Neisseria gonorrhoeae (cause of gonorrhea) that are completely resilient to benzyl penicillin, which originally was able to control these infections.

                When antimicrobials are used to fight an infection that will not be damped and killed by the medication, those pathogens remain within the body why the possibility of other helpful microbes, such as the bacteria in your intestines that aid in digestion, increases. As the symbiotic bacteria die off, there is less competition for the “bad bacteria” which will lead to proliferation and worsening symptoms.

                These resistant strains pose a huge economic and health consequence around the world, becoming a top issue of multiple countries.  With AMR multiple lives are put at risk of injury, loss and death. There have been predictions of a needed shift and redistribution of resources, balancing of benefits and burdens, as well as changing the structure of institutes as well as the behaviors of governments, corporations, scientists as well as clinicians and patients (Littmann, J., 2015). The promotion of good hygiene practices and over-prescribing antibiotics can only do so much. A report states from an interview with Michele Cecchini of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) health division states that “$2 per person per year could pay for itself within just one year and end up saving $4.8 billions of dollars per year in OECD countries (Koukakis, N., 2018).” In the name of ethics, and the fate of future generations to come, there needs to be something done to prevent more bacteria to become antibiotic resistant, and to work on ways to counteract the strains that are already AMR.

Davies S. C., Gibbens N. (2013). UK Five Year Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy 2013–2018. London: Department of Health.

Littmann, J. (2015, September 30). The Ethical Significance of Antimicrobial Resistance. Public Health Ethics. 2015 Nov, 8(3): 209-224.

Koukakis, N. (2018, November 08). Superbugs pose a dangerous, $65 billion threat to the US health-care system. Retrieved from https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/07/superbugs-dangerous-65-billion-threat-to-the-us-health-care-system.html

OECD (2018), Stemming the Superbug Tide: Just A Few Dollars More, OECD Health Policy Studies, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264307599-en.