Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Bacteria evolve resistance more quickly when stronger antibiotics are used

               The threat of antibiotic resistant bacteria increases every year.  This article addresses the rapid capabilities of bacteria to evolve resistant strains faster than we can treat them.  Considering the way the bacteria responded to multiple antibiotic treatments, I wonder what could be going on in our environment at this moment.  If we consider how many tons of antibiotics are improperly released into the environment every day, what forms of resistant strains are we inadvertently creating or have already created, but haven’t come across it yet?  Will the weak one day inherit the earth?  Who knows, one day we may live in a George Romero movie as the dead walk again.


http://phys.org/news/2013-04-bacteria-evolve-resistance-quickly-stronger.html

2 comments:

  1. This article provides crucial information from the research; we should take heed of these facts. I agree, Mike, I also wonder with how much antibiotic/antibacterial substances we use, what strains will these products cause? More investments must be made towards the resistant bacteria research, considering the numerous fatalities from disease caused by these bacterial strains.

    It does make sense, however, that the stronger the antibiotic, the stronger the resistance. Yet it is crazy that the researcher said that some of the most potent antibiotics lose their effectiveness in less than a day, due to this factor. Crazy.

    Of course, I am not entirely worried about this. I've a feeling these resistant factors will be overcome. Somehow,it will be.

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  2. I can't believe that within a day, an antibiotic treatment can be completely ineffective. It is a scary find, but it is good to know that the more powerful the treatment, the more powerful the response. I agree with the researchers that more funding needs to become available for additional antibiotic research. Additionally, I think the Healthcare community needs to be aware of this research to help curve what is already coming undone.

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