Multi-Drug Resistance Bacteria Diagnostic Methods

Student name
Student No.
Unit
Title: Multi-Drug Resistance Bacteria Diagnostic Methods

Abstract
According to Nikaido (2009), some bacteria have grown resistant to a couple of
antibiotics used in human therapy. This has occurred not only in humans but also in animals’
treatments and fish aquaculture. Bacterial resistance to antibiotics could be as a result of two
mechanisms. Firstly, the bacteria may replicate in to a more advanced gene whose coding is
resistant to that particular drug. These accumulations are evident in resistance plasmids. A
continued expression of genetic materials with multi efflux pumps code could lead to
multidrug resistance. Van Duin and Paterson (2017) think that multi drug resistant bacteria is
among the most current serious threat facing public health. They associate multi drug
resistant bacteria with nosocomial infections although some bacteria have become a leading
cause of different infections in the society. Due to the increasing threat of multi drug resistant
bacteria, both new and old solutions are being considered in the health care sector in order
come up with a long lasting antibiotic treatment. This report aims at comparing and
contrasting the new and old diagnostic techniques employed to end the tragedy of bacterial
resistance to antibiotics.

Introduction
Different bacterial infections have raised a health threat due to their resistance to
antibiotics which makes it even more expensive to treat them (Bolan, Sparling and
Wasserheit, 2012). Researchers and health care practitioners have tried to prove the
relationship between the population of bacteria and their resistance to different drugs (CDCP,
2013; Link-Gelles et al. 2013). Their research was aggravated by the fact that resistant
determinants aggregated in strains of bacteria (Chang et al. 2015). Link-Gilles (2013) studied
the resistance of streptococcus pneumonia to erythromycin and penicillin. Chang et al. (2015)
also studied the resistance of this bacteria to clindamycin, ceftazidime, tetracycline,
sulfamethoxazole and levofloxacin. Just like Link-Gelles and his colleagues, they discovered
dual resistance being common as compared to the proportional product of resistance of these
drugs. Other bacterial pathogens considered resistant to drugs include enterobacteriacease
(Hwang and Hooper, 2014), which is resistant to kanamycin, ampicillin, trimethrioprim and
tetracyclin; Neisseria gonorrhoeae, which is resistant to tetracycline and penicillin (Goldstein
et al. 2012); mycobacterium tuberculosis, resistance to rifampin, streptomycin, esoniazid and
ethambutol (Izu, Cohen and Degruttola, 2013);staphylococcus aureus, which was found
resistant to penicillin, clindamycin, gentamicin, erythromycin and trimethoprim.
Techniques used in detection of drug resistant bacteria
Anjum (2015) claims that inappropriate disposal, over use and misuse of antibiotics
has increased the resistance of bacteria to these antibiotics. The bacterial chromosomal genes
mutates, therefore acquiring a mobile genetic element. It is therefore important to first carry
out screening on the antimicrobial resistances in a certain bacteria before administering any
antibiotics. According to Anjum (2015), there are diverse methods used for this purpose,
some employing the genotypic characterization while other others using the phenotypic